Evening star., 1953-09-08
Continued From First Page

NNO11t1AIuCA 34O4t 4AASV 1%~E9~'t
one of the first visitors at the
Vinson apartment this morning.
The Chief Justice had spent
most of the summer in Wash
ington. Except for two brief
vacation trips and attendance
at the American Bar Association
convention last month in BoS-
ton, he remained here and was
at his Office several days a week.
Long personal as well as
official friend of Gen. Eisen-
hower-both as a co-worker in
wartime and a fellow bridge
player on occasion at the White
House-Chief Justice Vinson was
even more closely associated
with Mr.. Truman.
So intimate was the friend
ship and trust in that relation
ship that Mr.. Truman not only
named Mr.. Vinson to sue
cession of high Government po-
sitions but repeatedly urged him
to seek the Democratic nomina-
ton for President last year.
Truman Voices Regret.
Mr.. Truman was informed Of
his friends death shortly before
boarding a plane at Detroit
bound for his Missouri home.
1T is a terrible loss and a ter
rible shock" the former President
said. HE was a great man and
a great justice as well as q great
citizen of the country. Well all
miss him"
In the opinion of Fred Moore
Vinson, it was "just another ex-
ample of imitation" when, in 1947,
Mr.. Truman called him lone of
the foremost Americans of his
generation.
Mr.. Vinson made that COM
ment on receiving the Medal OF
Merit for outstanding services to
the United States, particularly
for wartime work in the home
front battle against rising prices.
His appraisal of his own
achievements in the legislative,
executive and judicial branches
of the Government since 1873
seemed too modest.
Toward the end of World War
II and early in the postwar Pc
riod. he Jumped rapidly from one
top-f1ight job to another. But
his career since boyhood pre-
pared him for ever-growing re-
sponsibilitieS.
Lost Father in 10th Year.
The future Chief Justices
father. James Vinson, died when
the son was about 10 years old.
After that Mr.. Wilson'S mother
kept the family together by run
ming a boarding house. Young
Fred went to a normal school in
Eastern Kentucky and later
graduated from Centre College
at Danville with B.A. degree
in 1909. At college he main
tanned an average in the upper
9Os and was shark at mathe-
mates as we'll as Latin. He also
eXcelled on the baseball diamond.
He was good enough to play with
the Lexington team in the Blue
Grass League and might have
moved on to bigger parks.
He pushed ahead with his
legal studies. however, and got
his law degree in 1911. Starting
practice in his home town he
became city attorney of Louisa
in 1918. He served two years.
From 1921 to 1924 he was the
commemorative attorney for the
S2d judicial district.
Mr.. Wilson's wife. the former
Miss Roberta Dixon of Louisa,
whom he married in January
1923, consented reluctantly when
he thought about being a can
didate in a special election for
Congress. He ran, won, and ex-
cept for a setback in tine 1928
election he remained in the
House until his resignation in
1888 to go to the United States
Nurt of Appeals here.
In Congress, Mr.. Vinson at
tracted early attention. and
within a few years was put on
the Ways and Means Commit
tee. AS chairman of the taxation
subcommittee, he drew rational
notice. He championed the 1886
revenue act with an undistrib-
uted profits tax provision. AS
early as 1887, he advocated a
pay-as-you-go taxation. similar
to the system finally adopted in
1943.
Hailed AS Tax Authority.
Tributes when he left Congress
cited an exceptional knowledge
of taxation and a friendly but
determined way of getting along
with conflicting groups. The late
Representative Knutson, Mime
sofa Republican who later headed
the Ways and Means Committee,
praised him as "the greatest au-
thority on taxation who has
served in the House in my 21
years here"
During his five years on the
Court of Appeals, Mr.. Vinson
indicated two basic beliefs. One
was a profound respect for prece-
dent. The other was view
that it is the function of Congress
and not the courts to shape ma
tional policy and write laws.
Twenty-four of Judge Wilson'S
written opinions were appealed
to the Supreme Court; reviews
were granted in only four OF
which three were reversed. One
of the most important Court OF
Appeals decisions during his ten
ure on that bench upheld anti
trust indictments against the
American Medical Association
and the District Medical Society
He concurred in the majority
opinion later sustained by the
Supreme Court.