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.

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.

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.

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.

[5] 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.

With aspirations to return to Washington, D.C. as congressman, Vinson formed a circle of Ashland friends who could aid him politically and professionally.

[7] 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.

[4] Vinson resigned from the bench to become Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization, an executive agency charged with fighting inflation.

[citation needed] He was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury by President Truman and served from July 23, 1945, to June 23, 1946.

[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.

[citation needed] In order to encourage private investment in postwar America, he promoted a tax cut in the Revenue Act of 1945.

[citation needed] 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.

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".

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.

[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.

[citation needed] Affectionately known as "Dead Fred", the portrait is taken by fraternity members to Centre football and basketball games and other events.

[citation needed] The Fred M. Vinson Birthplace, in Louisa, Kentucky, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.