That is very true and has been a head scratcher for me. 1941 they died with their boots on about Custer was that way. Injustice to the Indians was a widespread theme in those old westerns. And this was especially true in the TV westerns.
And then suddenly, in the late 60s and early 1970s everywhere you looked the left was acting like they had found something new and they needed to trash all of American history.
Hell, Hollywood had just spent 3 decades making Indians the good guy most of the time.
We put Indians on our coinage, named half our sports teams after them, gave them a much better than fair hearing in the movies. All kinds of military units had Indian symbols and names. All of our helicopters were named for Indian tribes. The USS Oglala was sunk at Pearl Harbor. Our paratroopers yelled “Geronimo!”. You rode around the Southwest on the Santa Fe Chief. Every Boy Scout lived and breathed Indian lore.
America loved the Indians and showed respect in countless ways, including films and TV. Other than American communism looking for a cause, it’s hard to make a rational case that they needed to make it into a cause in the ate 60s and afterwards the way they have.
Don’t forget Tonto.
Excellent comment!
Well said!