Frank Wheat, California lawyer and political activist. Born in Los Angeles on February 4, 1921, Francis Millspaugh Wheat graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Pomona College in 1942. During World War II, Wheat served as a gunnery officer. In 1948, he received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and soon joined a Los Angeles law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, 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. Frank Wheat who adhered to the ideal of law in public interest, helped found (in 1992) the Alliance for Children's Rights and was active in the Center for Law in the Public Interest (CLIPI, founded in 1971), the California Commission on Campaign Financing, (whose studies resulted in voter-approved initiatives in 1988 (Proposition 68) and 1996 (Proposition 208), the California Citizens Budget Commission, Human Rights Watch, and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. Wheat spearheaded the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. Frank Wheat died on July 21, 2000.
From the description of Papers of Frank Wheat, ca. 1950-2000 (bulk ca. 1985-2000). (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 228770313
