Ben Nighthorse Cambell
Senator

Ben Nighthorse Campbell was born in Auburn, California on April 13, 1933.  His mother, Mary Vierra, was a Portugese immigrant and his father, Albert Campbell, was an American Indian.  During his childhood, Campbell’s father battled with alcoholism and he would often leave Ben, his sister and their mother for months at a time. 
This, in combination with the fact that his mother’s tuberculosis prevented her from have much contact with her children, led to Ben and his sister spending most of their early years in various orphanages.  In 1951, Campbell dropped out of Placer High School and joined the US Air Force.  He fought in the Korean War and left the Air Force in 1953 as Airman Second Class and he had earned the Korean Service Medal and the Air Medal.

Campbell was a US Representative from 1987 to 1993 and a US Senator from 1993 until 2005.  For some time he was the only Native American serving in the U.S. Congress.  Campbell is also on the Council of Chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, where he has been a member since 1980.

Information from The Orphan Society and Wikipedia