Fred M. Vinson

Fred M. Vinson
13th Chief Justice of the United States
In office June 24, 1946 – September 8, 1953
Nominated by	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Harlan F. Stone
Succeeded by	Earl Warren
53rd United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office July 23, 1945 – June 23, 1946
President	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Henry Morgenthau Jr.
Succeeded by	John Wesley Snyder
Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization
In office May 28, 1943 – July 23, 1945
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	James F. Byrnes
Succeeded by	William Hammatt Davis
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
In office December 15, 1937 – May 28, 1943
Nominated by	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Charles Henry Robb
Succeeded by	Wilbur Kingsbury Miller
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky
In office January 24, 1924 – March 3, 1929
Preceded by	William J. Fields
Succeeded by	Elva R. Kendall
Constituency	9th district
In office March 4, 1931 – May 27, 1938
Preceded by	Elva R. Kendall
Succeeded by	Joe B. Bates
Constituency	9th district (1931–1933) 8th district (1933–1938)
Personal details
Born	Frederick Moore Vinson (1890-01-22)January 22, 1890 Louisa, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	September 8, 1953(1953-09-08) (aged 63) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Pinehill Cemetery, Louisa, Kentucky, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Julia Dixon ​ (m. 1924)​
Children	2
Education	Centre College (BA, LLB)
Signature

Frederick "Fred" 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.^[1]

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.

As of 2024, Vinson is the last chief justice to have been appointed by a Democratic president.