Fred M. Vinson

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Frederick Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to have served in all three branches of the U.S. government. Before becoming chief justice, Vinson served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky from 1924 to 1928 and 1930 to 1938, as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1938 to 1943, and as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1945 to 1946.<ref name="Hatcher 1967">For biographical details see Hatcher (1967).</ref>

Born in Louisa, Kentucky, Vinson pursued a legal career and served in the U.S. Army during World War I. After the war, he served as the Commonwealth's Attorney for the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Kentucky before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1924. He lost re-election in 1928 but regained his seat in 1930 and served in Congress until 1937. During his time in Congress, he became an adviser and confidante of Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Vinson to be a judge on the D.C. Circuit. Vinson resigned from the appellate court in 1943, when he became the Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization. After Truman acceded to the presidency following Roosevelt's death in 1945, Truman appointed Vinson to the position of Secretary of the Treasury. Vinson negotiated the payment of the Anglo-American loan and presided over the establishment of numerous post-war organizations, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (commonly called the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund.

After the death of Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone in 1946, Truman appointed Vinson to the Supreme Court. Vinson dissented in the case of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, which ruled against the Truman administration's control of the nation's steel mills during a strike. He ordered a rehearing of the Briggs v. Elliott case, which was eventually combined into the case known as Brown v. Board of Education. He is the most recent Chief Justice to be nominated by a Democratic president.

Early yearsEdit

File:Fred Vinson Birthplace.jpg

Birthplace in Louisa, Kentucky

Vinson, known universally as Fred, was born in the newly built, eight-room, red brick house in front of the Lawrence County jail in Louisa, Kentucky, where his father served as the Lawrence County Jailer.<ref name="Hatcher 1967"/> As a child he would help his father in the jail and even made friends with prisoners who would remember his kindness when he later ran for public office. Vinson worked odd jobs while in school. He graduated from Kentucky Normal School in 1909 <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and enrolled at Centre College, where he graduated at the top of his class with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While at Centre, he was a member of the Kentucky Alpha Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Laws from the now defunct College of Law.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He entered private practice in Louisa.<ref name="auto">Template:FJC Bio</ref> He first ran for and was elected to office as the City Attorney of Louisa.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Hatcher 1967"/>

Vinson joined the Army as a private during World War I.<ref name="auto"/> Following the war, he was elected as the Commonwealth's Attorney for the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Kentucky.<ref name="auto"/> Vinson married Julia Roberta Dixon on January 24, 1924, in Ashland, Kentucky. They had two sons.<ref name="Hatcher 1967"/>

United States Representative from KentuckyEdit

In 1924, Vinson ran in a special election for his district's seat in Congress after William J. Fields resigned to become the Governor of Kentucky. Vinson was elected as a Democrat and then was reelected twice before losing in 1928. His loss was attributed to his refusal to dissociate his campaign from Alfred E. Smith's presidential campaign. However, Vinson came back to win re-election in 1930, and he served in Congress through 1937.<ref name="Hatcher 1967"/>

While he was in Congress he befriended Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, a friendship that would last throughout his life. He soon became a close advisor, confidant, card player, and dear friend to Truman. After Truman decided against running for another term as president in the early 1950s, he tried to convince a skeptical Vinson to seek the Democratic Party nomination, but Vinson turned down the President's offer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After being equally unsuccessful in enlisting General Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Truman eventually landed on Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson as his preferred successor in the 1952 presidential election.

In 1930, former congressman Vinson moved his law practice from Louisa, Kentucky thirty miles north to Ashland. With aspirations to return to Washington, D.C. as congressman, Vinson formed a circle of Ashland friends who could aid him politically and professionally. This group included his next door neighbor Paul G. Blazer.Template:Sfn Vinson returned to Washington, D.C. as congressman in 1931. Vinson would become a frontline supporter of President Roosevelt and his cabinet's New Deal revolution.Template:Sfn

United States Court of AppealsEdit

File:Vinson sworn in - cropped and restored.jpg

Vinson taking the oath of office as judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1938

Vinson was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on November 26, 1937, to an Associate Justice seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (now the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit) vacated by Associate Justice Charles Henry Robb.<ref name="auto"/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9 of that year, and received his commission six days later.<ref name="auto"/> He was designated by Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone to serve as Chief Judge of the Emergency Court of Appeals.<ref name="auto"/> His service terminated on May 28, 1943, due to his resignation.<ref name="auto"/>

Secretary of the TreasuryEdit

Vinson resigned from the bench to become Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization, an executive agency charged with fighting inflation.Template:Citation needed He also spent time as Federal Loan Administrator (March 6 to April 3, 1945) and director of War Mobilization and Reconversion (April 4 to July 22, 1945).Template:Citation needed He was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury by President Truman and served from July 23, 1945, to June 23, 1946.Template:Citation needed

His mission as Secretary of the Treasury was to stabilize the American economy during the last months of the war and to adapt the United States financial position to the drastically changed circumstances of the postwar world.Template:Citation needed Before the war ended, Vinson directed the last of the great war-bond drives.Template:Citation needed

At the end of the war, he negotiated payment of the British Loan of 1946, the largest loan made by the United States to another country ($3.75 billion), and the lend-lease settlements of economic and military aid given to the allies during the war.Template:Citation needed In order to encourage private investment in postwar America, he promoted a tax cut in the Revenue Act of 1945.Template:Citation needed He also supervised the inauguration of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund, both created at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, acting as the first chairman of their respective boards.Template:Citation needed In 1946, Vinson resigned from the Treasury to be appointed Chief Justice of the United States by Truman.Template:Citation needed

Chief JusticeEdit

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File:1946-06-24 Vinson New Chief Justice.ogv

Swearing in of Chief Justice Vinson on White house portico

Vinson was nominated by President Harry S. Truman on June 6, 1946, to become Chief Justice of the United States, following the death of Harlan F. Stone.<ref name="auto"/> Vinson was recommended to Truman by former chief justice Charles Evans Hughes and former associate justice Owen Roberts. Both noted Vinson's experience in all three branches of the federal government, with Hughes telling Truman, "You have a Secretary of the Treasury who has been a Congressman, a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and an executive officer in President Roosevelt's and your cabinets".<ref>Margaret Truman, Harry S. Truman (1993), p. 330.</ref> He was confirmed by the United States Senate by a voice vote on June 20, 1946, received his commission on June 21,<ref name="auto"/> and took the oath of office on June 24.<ref>Template:Cite video</ref> His appointment came at a time when the Supreme Court was deeply fractured, both intellectually and personally.<ref name=Gugin >James E. St. Clair and Linda C. Gugin, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson of Kentucky: A Political Biography Template:Webarchive, p. 169-171.</ref> One faction was led by Justice Hugo Black, the other by Justice Felix Frankfurter.<ref name=Gugin /> Vinson was credited with patching this fracture,Template:According to whom at least on a personal level.Template:Citation needed He was the presiding officer of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges (now the Judicial Conference of the United States) from 1946 to 1948, and presiding officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1948 to 1953.<ref name="auto"/> In addition to his chief justiceship, Vinson served as circuit justice for the Fourth Circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit from June 26, 1946, until his death on September 8, 1953.<ref name="auto"/>

File:13 Fred M. Vinson bust, US Supreme Court.jpg

Fred M. Vinson bust, U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, D.C. Sculptor Jimilu Mason.

In his time on the Supreme Court, he wrote 77 opinions for the court and 13 dissents. His most dramatic dissent was when the court voided President Truman's seizure of the steel industry during a strike in a June 3, 1952, decision, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer.Template:Citation needed His final public appearance at the court was when he read the decision not to review the conviction and death sentence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.Template:Citation needed After Justice William O. Douglas granted a stay of execution to the Rosenbergs at the last moment, Chief Justice Vinson sent special flights out to bring vacationing justices back to Washington in order to ensure the execution of the Rosenbergs.Template:Citation needed During his tenure as Chief Justice, one of his law clerks was future Associate Justice Byron White<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The major issues his court dealt with included racial segregation, labor unions, communism and loyalty oaths.Template:Citation needed On racial segregation, he wrote that states practicing the separate but equal doctrine must provide facilities that were truly equal, in Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents.Template:Citation needed The case of Briggs v. Elliott was before the Court at the time of his death.Template:Citation needed Vinson, not wanting a 5–4 decision, had ordered a second hearing of the case.Template:Citation needed He died before the case could be reheard, and his vote may have been pivotal.<ref>Vinson michaelariens.com Template:Webarchive</ref> Upon his death, Earl Warren was appointed to the Court and the case was heard again.Template:Citation needed

When Secretary of State Dean Acheson came under fire from congressional Republicans for being "soft on communism" at the end of 1950 Vinson was briefly mentioned as the possible replacement as Secretary of State, which would have required his resignation from the court.<ref>"Democrats 'Hope' In Acheson Case", Spokane Chronicle (December 18, 1950), p. 2.</ref> This, however, did not come about.

As Chief Justice, Vinson swore in Truman (in 1949) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (in 1953) as President.

Death and legacyEdit

Vinson died on September 8, 1953, of a heart attack at his Washington home. His body was interred in Pinehill Cemetery in Louisa, Kentucky.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Christensen, George A. (February 19, 2008). "Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited". Journal of Supreme Court History, Volume 33 Issue 1, Pages 17 - 41. University of Alabama.</ref>

An extensive collection of Vinson's personal and judicial papers is archived at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where they are available for research.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A portrait of Vinson hangs in the hallway of the chapter house of the Kentucky Alpha-Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ) international fraternity, at Centre College.Template:Citation needed Vinson was a member of the chapter in his years at Centre.Template:Citation needed Affectionately known as "Dead Fred", the portrait is taken by fraternity members to Centre football and basketball games and other events.Template:Citation needed<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Fred M. Vinson Birthplace, in Louisa, Kentucky, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>