his father is a white man, oren curtis. he comes originally -- his ancestors are passengers on the mayflower. a lot of hay is made of that when he is a candidate. he has the indian on one side, pilgrims on the other. it is a great pr piece. what makes him so remarkable, i think, is the fact that he is a mixed blood growing up in a time that makes that very difficult and he somehow, i think by pure force of his personality, makes that an advantage. i know that one historian says he played the indian card when it worked, and he played the white card when it worked. that might be true but i think it oversimplifies his experience and i think it is a little unfair to him. i think he chose the white man's world. he's said that. that is his words. because of his experiences. it is unfortunate that society forced that choice on him, and it most certainly did. charles curtis' family operated the ferry that went from north topeka to the south side of the kansas river and was ferrying passengers on the oregon trail. he does not come f

his father is a white man oren curtis. his ancestors are passengers on the mayflower. a lot of haiti is made with that when he is a candidate. he has the indian on one side, pilgrims on the other. it is a great pr piece. what makes him so remarkable, i think, is the fact that he is a mixed blood growing up in a time that makes that very difficult and he somehow, i think by pure force of his personality, makes that an advantage. one historian says he played the indian card when it worked, and he played the white card when it worked. that might be true but i think it oversimplifies his experience and i think it is a little unfair to him. i think he chose the white man's world. that is his words. because of his experiences. it is unfortunate that society forced that choice on him, and it certainly did. charles curtis' family operated the ferry that went from north topeka to the south side of the kansas river and was ferrying passengers on the oregon trail. he does not come from a poor family. they are always working but they are people of means. his mother has an allotmen