In 1989, MacDonald was removed from office by the Navajo Tribal Council, pending the results of federal criminal investigations headed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

[2] Born Hashkasilt Begay (He Who Clasps With Power),[3] MacDonald was raised among traditional shepherds and groomed as a medicine man.

Upon graduation in 1957, his acumen secured a job at the Hughes Aircraft Company, working on the Polaris nuclear missile project.

He worked to extend tribal control over education and over mineral leases and co-founded the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) in 1975.

[5] He was a member of Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP), and was scheduled, at the urging of Senator Barry Goldwater, to speak at the 1972 Republican National Convention.

[1] Concluding that Nixon's support for the Navajo position in a land dispute with the Hopi was tepid, MacDonald met with Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, chair of a Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs.

Two years later, Goldwater's displeasure increased, when MacDonald delivered 9,006 out of a total 10,274 Navajo votes to help elect Democrat Raul Castro as governor of Arizona.

Navajo Community College Board of Regents; (Diné College); member, Tsaile, AZ[10] Native American Preparatory School (NAPS) Board of Trustees and co-founder (1986–1988)[2] American Indian Policy Review Commission, chairman of Task Force on "Reservation and Resource Development and Protection", U.S. Congress (1975–1976)[11] In 1976, US senator Barry Goldwater initiated an audit of tribal finances that led to charges against MacDonald of filing false travel vouchers.

[13] In the third case, MacDonald was charged with violating tribal election law by accepting illegal campaign contributions from non-Navajos.

Turmoil ensued, culminating in a riot in Window Rock five months later that led to the shooting deaths of two MacDonald supporters and the injury of two tribal police officers.

They had stormed the tribal headquarters in an attempt to restore him to power, according to the Associated Press [3], in what is commonly known as the "Peter MacDonald Riot".

Within several years he was convicted of more US federal crimes including fraud, extortion, riot, bribery, and corruption stemming from the Navajo purchase of the Big Boquillas Ranch in Northwestern Arizona.

[1] The day before President Bill Clinton left office in 2001, U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy lobbied the White House to commute the sentence of the former leader.

He championed a return to traditional Navajo family values, including parents taking back education of their children, in a 2007 address in Tsiizizii:[17] "I sincerely believe that we will all be better off if we return to the traditional Navajo system in which the family was important and everyone fulfilled their roles and responsibility for preparing our children for life.

[18] He highlighted the effectiveness of the Code Talkers' communication in battles and advocated for the preservation of their legacy through the establishment of a national museum.

[19] In 2022, he spoke in Washington, D.C. at a celebration honoring Navajo Code Talkers at the National World War II Memorial.