In leading Indian people, there have been many leadership styles over the centuries that have been successfully employed to aid a cause. Some Indian leaders developed a reputation for militancy, while some became notorious for pacifism. Both styles of leadership have their downfalls, and both styles of leadership have been used successfully to achieve the goals set before the people. In the 20th century, few Indian leaders have achieved national notoriety for their leadership efforts, but among these, Russell Means of the Lakota Sioux Nation and Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Western Band of the Cherokee, have achieved national and international acclaim for their labors.
             Russell Means was born November 10, 1939 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near the Black Hills of South Dakota. In the late 1960s, Means began his fight for Indian rights with the American Indian Movement (AIM). He became the first national director of AIM and has remained active in the movement since then.
             In 1964, Means was among the Indian activists, including his father Hank Means, who occupied Alcatraz Island in an AIM protest lasting 19 months. In 1973, Means helped lead the AIM takeover of Wounded Knee. In occupying this site of a 1890s massacre of Indians by US cavalry, AIM was attempting to regain lands granted to the Lakota in the 1868 Laramie treaty. Both events brought worldwide attention to the injustices and privation faced by American Indians past and present.
             Russell Means' style of leadership can be characterized as an angry spirit prefaced by a gentle voice. Means has admitted that he feels nothing but rage toward the American government because they have been successful in making American Indian men a "cheap imitation" of white males. He has led hostile takeovers and government negotiations to advance his cause of lifting the oppression of American Indians.
             Russell Means also has a softer side of acti...