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Frederick Moore Vinson of Kentucky was appointed Chief Justice of the United States by President Truman in 1946. His earlier public career included service as Commonwealth Attorney, member of Congress, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1938-1943), Chief Judge of the Emergency Court of Appeals (1942), Director of Economic Stabilization, Director of War Mobilization and Secretary of the Treasury.
Born in Louisa, Kentucky, on January 22, 1890, Vinson was graduated from Centre College, where he excelled in athletics, particularly baseball, as well as scholarship. After receiving a law degree from Centre with the highest academic record in the history of the law school, he practiced law in his home town and later in Ashland, Kentucky. He was elected to Congress in 1924 and became an influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
As Chief Justice, Vinson exerted effective leadership in the area of civil rights, but sought in vain to bring unanimity to a badly divided court in other areas. He wrote important civil liberties opinions, including Shedley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948); McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 (1950); Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950); American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382 (1950); and Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494 (1951). He dissented in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 667 (1952), the Steel seizure case.
He died of a heart attack September 8, 1953. |
