Frank Wheat Papers: Finding Aid
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8862njv No online items Frank Wheat Papers: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Denise Dobbs, April 10, 2007. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2129 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2007 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Frank Wheat Papers: Finding Aid mssWheat papers 1 Overview of the Collection Title: Frank Wheat Papers Dates (inclusive): Approximately 1950-2000 Bulk dates: Approximately 1985-2000 Collection Number: mssWheat papers Creator: Wheat, Frank, 1921-. Extent: 154 boxes (64.22 linear feet) Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2129 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection contains the personal and professional papers of California lawyer and political activist Frank Wheat (1921-). The papers chiefly date from the mid 1980s-2005 and cover his work on the California Desert Protection Act; the California Desert Miracle, The Fight for Desert Parks and Wilderness (1999), and other environmental issues, particularly including mining's effect on the environment; the Alliance for Children's Rights, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and Human Rights Watch and his involvement with Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. The collection also contains information on Wheat's legal career, including his presidency of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, his tenure as an SEC Commissioner, his expertise in securities and corporate law, and his involvement with the California Citizens Budget Commission and California Commission on Campaign Financing. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. Frank Wheat Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance Gift from Mrs. Nancy W. Wheat, May 10, 2001. Biographical Note Frank Wheat (1921-), California lawyer and political activist. Born in Los Angeles, California, on February 4, 1921, Francis Millspaugh Wheat graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Pomona College in 1942. During World War II Wheat spent three and a half years on destroyers as a gunnery officer on active duty from 1942-46. He received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1948 and joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher that year in Los Angeles, becoming a partner in 1955. One of the top securities lawyers in the nation, he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to the Securities and Exchange Commission and moved to Washington, D.C., returning to Los Angeles and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1969. In the late 1960s when activism was thriving on numerous fronts, Wheat was impressed by the work of law students outside the traditional legal world, students who were voluntarily providing legal assistance for those in need, pushing for legislative reforms, opening community clinics, even working with prison inmates. Frank Wheat rode this wave of public interest law (ca. 1970-1980) that blossomed through the efforts of many organizations seeking to address social ills. The spectrum of the public interest would compel Wheat to help found (in 1992) the Alliance for Children’s Rights which provided legal services for disadvantaged children and motivated his pivotal participation (1985- 1999) with the Center for Law in the Public Interest (CLIPI, founded in 1971). This native son’s quest for political reform at home made significant headway when he joined the California Commission on Campaign Financing whose studies resulted in voter-approved initiatives in 1988 (Proposition 68) and 1996 (Proposition 208). Wheat easily segued into the California Citizens Budget Commission which utilized his expertise in all things financial and produced reports on healthcare reform and budget reform. He committed his energies to Human Rights Watch, which Frank Wheat Papers: Finding Aid mssWheat papers 2 monitored injustices globally, and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, which provided financial support for many of these philanthropic groups. But in the world of Frank Wheat, the most significant “law in the public interest” was the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. Wheat’s passion stemmed from his exposure to a place where he often renewed his energies, the beautiful but fragile territory where he hiked and explored with his family, and which became the subject of his 1999 book, California Desert Miracle. Bibliography Lingenfelter, Richard E. Death Valley & the Amargosa – A Land of Illusion. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1986 Unrau, Harlan D. A History of the Lands Added to Death Valley National Monument by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 – Special History Study. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1997 Wheat, Frank. California Desert Miracle - The Fight for Desert Parks and Wilderness. San Diego, Calif.: Sunbelt Publications, 1999 Scope and Content Personal and professional papers of Frank Wheat, with particular emphasis on his political activism and philanthropy. The papers cover his effort for the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA); the work on his California Desert Miracle, The Fight for Desert Parks and Wilderness (1999), and other environmental issues, particularly including mining's effect on the environment; the Alliance for Children's Rights, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and Human Rights Watch and his involvement with Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. The collection also contains information on Wheat's legal career, including his presidency of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, his tenure as an SEC Commissioner, his expertise in securities and corporate law, and his involvement with the California Citizens Budget Commission and California Commission on Campaign Financing. The dream of comprehensive legislation to protect California’s desert and its resources was kept alive during the 1980s and 1990s by a congregation of volunteers and their representatives. After twenty years of effort, climaxing with a filibuster in the United States Senate broken by a single vote, a bill that had seen many manifestations was finally enacted in October of 1994, the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA). That is the story of California Desert Miracle, The Fight for Desert Parks and Wilderness, the book Frank Wheat wrote about fostering the act into law. As a result of CDPA’s enactment, approximately 7.7 million acres of Federal lands were designated wilderness and roughly three million acres were added to the National Park system, including lands adjacent to the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Monuments (designated as National Parks), plus the establishment of Mojave National Preserve. This amounted to roughly one-quarter of the state of California and made Death Valley National Park the largest such park in the lower 48 states. Beyond the parameters of the California Desert Protection Act, Wheat investigated many environmental issues. Foremost among these would be mining, which can be found in several areas of the collection. Mining’s effect on the environment, particularly the desert – the irreversible damage from open pit mines - is reflected in documents on the cyanide heap leaching process for mining gold. Other documents discuss the Bureau of Land Management’s position on reclamation measures versus the obligation to foster mining as part of its “multiple use” policy. Of an even greater concern was reform of the U.S. Mining Laws of 1872 (43 CFR 3809). These regulations allow anyone to claim hard- rock minerals on public land, file a plan of operations, and remove valuable minerals without paying a cent to taxpayers; Wheat felt they needed to be substantially revised. In consideration of that reform, he investigated the Glamis Mine in Imperial County, California, for possible litigation purposes. So while Wheat focused his efforts on getting the CDPA enacted, he juggled other important causes. While the collection’s main focus is represented in 25 boxes of documentation regarding the Desert Bill crusade, it also includes rich resources about a plethora of environmental organizations, such as the California Desert Protection League – an amalgam of various organizations including several Sierra Club chapters, the Wilderness Society, Desert Survivors, several Audubon chapters and the Izaak Walton League. The spectrum of public interest law not only covers the environment, but the social problems addressed by such organizations as the Alliance for Children’s Rights, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and Human Rights Watch, all represented in the Wheat Papers, along with those funding this important work, like the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. Frank Wheat’s penchant for organizations extended to those reflecting his professional life. Foremost among them would be the Los Angeles County Bar Association, which he served as president and who honored him with its Shattuck