Papers of David Donald (Don) Mulford, California State Assemblyman for the 16th District and the 18th District (Oakland-Berkeley-Piedmont) from 1957 to 1970.

David Donald (Don) Mulford served as California State Assemblyman for the 16th District and the 18th District (Oakland-Berkeley-Piedmont) from 1957 to 1970. Born in Oakland in 1915, Mulford attended Oakland public schools and the University of California. He served in the army during World War II and then started his own Bay Area insurance company. He and his wife, Virginia Adams, had four children and lived in Piedmont. Mulford, a Republican, was a political ally of Governor Ronald Reagan and served as Chairman of the Minority Caucus from 1963 to 1969, when Republicans became the majority party in the Assembly, and then as Majority Caucus Chairman until 1970. He helped write a range of laws, including ones requiring fire alarms in schools, establishing the California-Nevada partnership to preserve Lake Tahoe, and setting aside open space in the East Bay hills. Mulford also wrote the Mulford Act, a law that prohibits persons from carrying loaded firearms into public places. His commitment to environmental legislation was recognized by the California Wildlife Federation in 1967. Mulford is also remembered for several controversies. In 1961, he demanded (unsuccessfully and much to the displeasure of many of his constituents on the UC Berkeley campus) that University of California President Clark Kerr cancel a speech by Fred Wilkinson, an adversary of the House Un-American Activities Committee. During the years of the Free Speech Movement and anti-war demonstrations in his district, Mulford demanded the dismissal of protesting students and called on the university to discipline faculty involved in anti-draft rallies. In 1970, Mulford left the Assembly, after losing his re-election bid to Ken Meade, and became the protocol officer for the state of California and the city of Oakland.

Number of containers: 29 cartons, 1 box (linear feet: 36.5)

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