was upheld by the United States Court of Claims and as a result, the Ute tribes were awarded $32 million. Due to Wilkinson's work, the Indian Claims Commission was signed in 1946 by Harry S. Truman. This opened up more claims to be filed and prosecuted by Wilkinson, making his firm the most active in the country for tribal cases. Wilkinson's share of the Ute Indian settlement as the plaintiff's attorney made him independently wealthy and allowed him to give up his law practice to pursue his interests in education. When he became the 7th president of BYU, Wilkinson created a new law firm: Wilkinson, Cragun, and Barker. He was the senior partner, but management was left to his brother, Glen Wilkinson, Cragun, and Barker. Political Wilkinson was heavily interested in politics. Influenced by his socialist father from a young age, his viewpoints shifted to conservatism in his adult years. During the Cold War, LDS Church leaders were particularly fearful of the influence of communism in the United States. This was manifest in their choice of strictly conservative Wilkinson as the next BYU president. LDS Church leader Stephen L. Richards hoped in Wilkinson's inauguration that Wilkinson would, "implant in youth a deep love of country and a reverential regard for the Constitution of the United States." Wilkinson made it clear that he supported the Republican party and disliked communism. Some students at BYU criticized his "unabashed partisanship". Despite his interest in politics during the beginning of his presidency at BYU, he did not seriously consider running for the U.S. Senate. Though his law career had taught him how to navigate federal bureaucracy, he did not feel that he had the skills to win a congressional race. In addition, he was more concerned, at the time, in the work he could accomplish in Utah as BYU president rather than in Washington. Several times during the 1950s and 1960s, Wilkinson approached church president David O. McKay for his permission to run for public office. He was advised not to run until 1964 when he was given a one-year leave of absence to run for the senate. In his absence, duties of the president and chancellor were taken up by Earl C. Crockett and Harvey L. Taylor, respectively. In 1964, Wilkinson won the Republican Party nomination for the United States Senate, defeating Sherman P. Lloyd. Wilkinson lost in the general election to incumbent