Interview: Rick West

By Milo Mason and Dean Suagee W Richard West Jr., a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a Peace Chief of the Southern Cheyenne, is founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Before becoming director of the National Museum of the American Indian, West practiced law at the Indian-owned Albuquerque, New Mexico, law firm of Gover, Stetson, Williams & West, P.C. and before that, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. West, who grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was the son of American Indian master artist, the late Walter Richard West Sr., and Maribelle McCrea West. He earned a bachelor's degree (major in American history) magna cum laude and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Redlands in California, received a master's degree in American history from Harvard University, and graduated from the Stanford University School of Law. NR&E sat down with him in his office overlooking the National Mall and the nation's Capitol.