Local museum will recognize Vinson’s birthday with special event
By Lilly Adkins
BSN Associate Editor
LOUISA — In observance of the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson’s birthday, the museum and welcome center in Louisa named in his honor will celebrate with an open house on Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event will include special guest speakers from Centre College, where he attended, as well as friends and family at the event. Some of the participants will be dressed in period costume.
Local attorney Bill Jackson will do a presentation at 10 a.m. titled “Who was Fred M. Vinson?”
The event will also include a Painted Rock Scavenger Hunt for children. As a fundraiser for the museum, the Hillbilly Hibachi Food Truck will be available in front of the museum. There will also be a drawing for the Louisa-Opoly Game, and the winner will get a stay at one of the county cabins. Cake will be served following the event.
Frederick Moore Vinson was born in Louisa on January 22, 1890, and died September 8, 1953, in Washington, D.C.
Vinson served the United States in all three branches of government. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years. In the executive branch, he was treasury secretary under President Harry S. Truman. In the judicial branch, he was the 13th chief justice of the United States, appointed by Truman.
Vinson graduated from Kentucky Normal School in 1908 and enrolled at Centre College, where he graduated at the top of his class. While at Centre, he was a member of the Kentucky Alpha Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity after which he opened a private practice in Louisa.
He was first elected to office as the Louisa city attorney.
Vinson joined the army during World War I, after which he returned and was elected as the commonwealth’s attorney, holding the office from 1921-1924.
In 1924, he ran in a special election for his district's seat in Congress after William J. Fields resigned to become Kentucky governor. Vinson was elected as a Democrat and then was re-elected twice before losing in 1928.
In 1929-1931, Vinson opened a private law practice in Ashland.
Vinson came back to win re-election in 1930 and served in Congress through 1937.
“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, confidante, 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,” Wikipedia says.
On Nov. 26, 1937, Vinson was nominated by Franklin D. Roosevelt to the federal branch, filling a seat vacated by Charles H. Robb on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. While he was there, he was designated by Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone on March 2, 1942, as chief judge of the U.S. Emergency Court of Appeals, serving until his resignation on May 27, 1943.