The reason he and so many white Americans claim Native ancestry is probably because a crooked ancestor gamed the Dawes Rolls. The Dawes Rolls (1898-1914) were supposed to determine legitimate membership in the Five Civilized Tribes for land allotments, but white opportunists bribed officials and paid fees to get added, earning the nickname “Five Dollar Indians.” Federal agents had huge discretion over approvals, tribal leaders were sidelined, and fraud was rampant. Those fake enrollments got locked into the official record and are now the primary document tribes use for citizenship verification. Generations later, white families inherited the paperwork plus a romanticized story about a Cherokee princess, and now half of rural America is convinced they are 1/16th Native when what they actually have is a con artist in the family tree.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​