Presidents and the Supreme Court: Harry Truman and Fred Vinson
On April 12, 1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt died from a cerebral hemorrhage. Although he was only 63 years of age, his death was not unexpected. His health had been in decline and this was noticeable to almost everyone. Just over a year later, in April of 1946, Chief Justice Harlan Fisk Stone also died while in office. In fact Stone was on the job, hearing a case, when he suffered a stroke that took his life. Harry Truman had been president for just over a year, but in that time he had been confronted by some very significant issues, including the end of the war, the decision to use the atomic bomb, and shaping the post-war world. To replace the late Chief Justice Stone, Truman turned to another Democrat from a border state, former Kentucky Congressman Fred Vinson.
Frederick Moore Vinson was simply known as Fred. He was born on January 22, 1890 in a red brick house that was located in front of the Lawrence County jail in Louisa, Kentucky, where his father served as the Lawrence County Jailer. As a child he would help his father in the jail and would later recall making friends with some of the prisoners. Vinson graduated from Kentucky Normal School in 1908 and enrolled at Centre College, where he graduated at the top of his class. He became a lawyer in his home town of Louisa, and his first elected office was as the City Attorney of Louisa.
Vinson joined the Army during World War I. After the war, he was elected as the Commonwealth's Attorney for the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Kentucky. He married Julia Roberta Dixon on January 24, 1924 in Ashland, Kentucky and the couple had two sons. In 1924, he 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. It was believed that he lost his bid for re-election because he refused to dissociate his campaign from that of Democratic Presidential Nominee Alfred E. Smith, a Catholic running at a time when this was seen as a huge political impediment. Undaunted, Vinson ran again in 1930 and won and continued to serve in Congress through 1937.
It was in Congress that Vinson met and befriended Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, and the two remained friends throughout his life. Vinson became one of Truman's close advisors, confidants, card playing buddies and generally a good friend to the future president. Years later, when Truman decided against running for another term as president in the 1952 election, he tried unsuccessfully to convince Vinson to seek the Democratic Party nomination, but Vinson knew that this was a losing proposition.
Vinson's Congressional service came to an end when he was nominated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on November 26, 1937, to the federal bench as a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Vinson was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9, 1937, and was sworn in on December 15, 1937. While he was there, he was designated by Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone on March 2, 1942, as chief judge of the United States Emergency Court of Appeals. He served here until his resignation on May 27, 1943.
Vinson left the bench to become Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization, an executive agency charged with fighting inflation. He also spent time as Federal Loan Administrator and director of War Mobilization and Reconversion. Truman made Vinson a member of his cabinet, appointing him as Secretary of the Treasury by President Truman. He served in that role from July 23, 1945 to June 23, 1946. While Secretary of the Treasury, Vinson worked to stabilize the American economy during the last months of the war and prepare for the transition from war economy to post-war economy. Before the war ended, Vinson led the final war-bond drives. 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. He also negotiated the lend-lease settlements of economic and military aid given to the allies during the war. He pressed for a tax cut in the Revenue Act of 1945 and worked to supervise the inauguration of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund, both created at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944. He served as the first chairman of their respective boards.
In 1946, Vinson resigned from the Treasury to be appointed Chief Justice of the United States by Truman following the sudden death of Harlan Fisk Stone. The Senate confirmed him by voice vote on June 20. Vinson took the oath of office as Chief Justice on June 24, 1946. His appointment came at a time when the Supreme Court was deeply divided. One faction was led by Justice Hugo Black, the other by Justice Felix Frankfurter. Vinson worked to try to mend this rift. In his time on the Supreme Court, he wrote 77 opinions for the court and 13 dissents. His most memorable dissent was in opposition to the court decision to void President Truman's seizure of the steel industry during a strike, in the June 3, 1952 decision of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer.
Vinson's 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. Justice William O. Douglas had granted a stay of execution to the Rosenbergs at the last moment and Chief Justice Vinson sent special flights out to bring vacationing justices back to Washington in order to render a decision on the stay.
The major issues his court addressed included racial segregation, labor unions, communism and loyalty oaths. On racial segregation, he wrote, in the court's decisions in Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, that states applying the separate but equal doctrine must provide facilities that were truly equal. The case of Briggs v. Elliott was before the Court at the time of his death, but Vinson died before the case could be reheard.
As Chief Justice, he swore in Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower as President. Vinson is the last Chief Justice to have been appointed by a Democratic President. He was also the last Chief Justice to preside over a court solely nominated by presidents of one political party (all members of his court had been appointed either by Roosevelt of Truman.)
During the McCarthy hearings, when Secretary of State Dean Acheson came under fire from congressional Republicans for being "soft on communism", there was speculation that Vinson and Acheson would change job,s with Vinson becoming the new Secretary of State and Dean Acheson the new Chief Justice. This speculation died down when President Truman announced that he had complete faith in Acheson at the State Department.
Vinson died unexpectedly on September 8, 1953, of a heart attack while at his Washington home. His body is interred in Pinehill Cemetery, Louisa, Kentucky. He is not forgotten at his alma mater, the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where his portrait hangs in the hallway of the chapter house of the Kentucky Alpha-Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta international fraternity, at Centre College. The portrain, affectionately known as "Dead Fred", is taken by fraternity members to Centre football and basketball games and other events.
Frederick Moore Vinson was simply known as Fred. He was born on January 22, 1890 in a red brick house that was located in front of the Lawrence County jail in Louisa, Kentucky, where his father served as the Lawrence County Jailer. As a child he would help his father in the jail and would later recall making friends with some of the prisoners. Vinson graduated from Kentucky Normal School in 1908 and enrolled at Centre College, where he graduated at the top of his class. He became a lawyer in his home town of Louisa, and his first elected office was as the City Attorney of Louisa.
Vinson joined the Army during World War I. After the war, he was elected as the Commonwealth's Attorney for the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Kentucky. He married Julia Roberta Dixon on January 24, 1924 in Ashland, Kentucky and the couple had two sons. In 1924, he 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. It was believed that he lost his bid for re-election because he refused to dissociate his campaign from that of Democratic Presidential Nominee Alfred E. Smith, a Catholic running at a time when this was seen as a huge political impediment. Undaunted, Vinson ran again in 1930 and won and continued to serve in Congress through 1937.
It was in Congress that Vinson met and befriended Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, and the two remained friends throughout his life. Vinson became one of Truman's close advisors, confidants, card playing buddies and generally a good friend to the future president. Years later, when Truman decided against running for another term as president in the 1952 election, he tried unsuccessfully to convince Vinson to seek the Democratic Party nomination, but Vinson knew that this was a losing proposition.
Vinson's Congressional service came to an end when he was nominated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on November 26, 1937, to the federal bench as a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Vinson was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9, 1937, and was sworn in on December 15, 1937. While he was there, he was designated by Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone on March 2, 1942, as chief judge of the United States Emergency Court of Appeals. He served here until his resignation on May 27, 1943.
Vinson left the bench to become Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization, an executive agency charged with fighting inflation. He also spent time as Federal Loan Administrator and director of War Mobilization and Reconversion. Truman made Vinson a member of his cabinet, appointing him as Secretary of the Treasury by President Truman. He served in that role from July 23, 1945 to June 23, 1946. While Secretary of the Treasury, Vinson worked to stabilize the American economy during the last months of the war and prepare for the transition from war economy to post-war economy. Before the war ended, Vinson led the final war-bond drives. 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. He also negotiated the lend-lease settlements of economic and military aid given to the allies during the war. He pressed for a tax cut in the Revenue Act of 1945 and worked to supervise the inauguration of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund, both created at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944. He served as the first chairman of their respective boards.
In 1946, Vinson resigned from the Treasury to be appointed Chief Justice of the United States by Truman following the sudden death of Harlan Fisk Stone. The Senate confirmed him by voice vote on June 20. Vinson took the oath of office as Chief Justice on June 24, 1946. His appointment came at a time when the Supreme Court was deeply divided. One faction was led by Justice Hugo Black, the other by Justice Felix Frankfurter. Vinson worked to try to mend this rift. In his time on the Supreme Court, he wrote 77 opinions for the court and 13 dissents. His most memorable dissent was in opposition to the court decision to void President Truman's seizure of the steel industry during a strike, in the June 3, 1952 decision of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer.
Vinson's 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. Justice William O. Douglas had granted a stay of execution to the Rosenbergs at the last moment and Chief Justice Vinson sent special flights out to bring vacationing justices back to Washington in order to render a decision on the stay.
The major issues his court addressed included racial segregation, labor unions, communism and loyalty oaths. On racial segregation, he wrote, in the court's decisions in Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, that states applying the separate but equal doctrine must provide facilities that were truly equal. The case of Briggs v. Elliott was before the Court at the time of his death, but Vinson died before the case could be reheard.
As Chief Justice, he swore in Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower as President. Vinson is the last Chief Justice to have been appointed by a Democratic President. He was also the last Chief Justice to preside over a court solely nominated by presidents of one political party (all members of his court had been appointed either by Roosevelt of Truman.)
During the McCarthy hearings, when Secretary of State Dean Acheson came under fire from congressional Republicans for being "soft on communism", there was speculation that Vinson and Acheson would change job,s with Vinson becoming the new Secretary of State and Dean Acheson the new Chief Justice. This speculation died down when President Truman announced that he had complete faith in Acheson at the State Department.
Vinson died unexpectedly on September 8, 1953, of a heart attack while at his Washington home. His body is interred in Pinehill Cemetery, Louisa, Kentucky. He is not forgotten at his alma mater, the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where his portrait hangs in the hallway of the chapter house of the Kentucky Alpha-Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta international fraternity, at Centre College. The portrain, affectionately known as "Dead Fred", is taken by fraternity members to Centre football and basketball games and other events.