Vinson takes oath as SCOTUS chief justice (6-24-46)

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The Evening Star (June 24, 1946)

Vinson takes oath as chief justice in White House rites

Truman sees respect for court enhanced by his service
By Joseph A. Fox

President Truman today saw Fred M. Vinson sworn in as 13th chief justice of the United States in an unusual White House ceremony, and then, in a brief speech, expressed the firm conviction that the traditional respect of the American people for the courts “will be enhanced by Mr. Vinson’s service on the bench.”

The 56-year-old Kentuckian, who is retiring as secretary of the Treasury to go to the Supreme Court, took the dual oaths as chief justice on the South Portico of the White House where the late President Roosevelt’s fourth-term inaugural was held. He succeeds Harlan Fiske Stone, who died April 22.

Present for the ceremony were members of the immediate family and old friends of Mr. Vinson, who has served in the House, on the Court of Appeals, and as economic stabilization director, federal loan administrator, director of War Mobilization and Reconversion, and, finally, secretary of the Treasury.

Oaths administered by Groner

The general public was admitted, and several thousand were present when Chief Justice D. Lawrence Groner of the District Court of Appeals administered the oath.

The new chief justice pledged himself to “administer justice without respect to person” and to “support and defend the Constitution.”

In his brief talk which followed the swearing in, President Truman made no direct reference to the dissension which has split the court and was climaxed two weeks ago in the bitter attack by Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson on his colleague, Justice Hugo L. Black.

Justice Black was present for today’s ceremony. Justice Jackson is still in Germany where he is serving at the chief American prosecutor for Nazi war criminals.

“Only 13 presidents have had the honor and privilege of appointing a chief justice of the United States,” Mr. Truman said. “That duty fell upon me. It was one on which I labored long and faithfully. I finally decided to make the secretary of the Treasury the chief justice of the United States. And the one regret I had was that I was losing Mr. Vinson from the cabinet of the President.

Sees respect for bench enhanced

“We all know that one of the three branches of the government of the United States is the branch of the judiciary – the judicial branch. The Supreme Court is at the top of the judicial branch. All of us have the utmost respect for the courts of the country, and we know that that respect will be enhanced when Mr. Vinson becomes chief justice of the United States actively on the branch.

“It is a pleasure to me to have you all here today to witness this ceremony. This is the 13th time that this ceremony has been performed. Mr. Vinson is the 13th chief justice of the United States, and I think that is lucky for the United States, and I think that is lucky for Mr. Vinson. At least, I hope it is.”

In the benediction, the Rev. Frederick Brown Harris, chaplain of the Senate and pastor of Foundry Methodist Church, invoked the divine guidance and prayed “with righteousness shall he judge.”

Several thousand watch

The ceremony in its unusual setting was arranged for 11 o’clock and lasted nine minutes. The public was admitted and a crowd of several thousand stood behind ropes on the south grounds of the White House to watch. Speaker of the House Rayburn presided and expressed his great pleasure in being able “to participate in the confirmation finally of a man who is doing a great job.”

Mr. Vinson, wearing a blue business suit, stood to the side of the speaker with President Truman, and then stepped up as chief justice. Groner in his judicial robes administered the oath. The chief justice then kissed the Bible the judge had held. John W. Snyder, who is succeeding Chief Justice Vinson in the Treasury, will be sworn in tomorrow.

The Bible upon which the chief justice took his oaths was given him and Mrs. Vinson on their wedding day January 24, 1923.

The Bible, the gift of R. C. McClure of Louisa, Kentucky, where Justice Vinson was born January 22, 1890, bears the inscription by Mr. McClure on the fly leaf: “Chart and compass for the voyage.”

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The Pittsburgh Press (June 24, 1946)

Vinson takes oath to head feud-ridden Supreme Court

Truman hopes he’ll give tribunal dignity

WASHINGTON (UP) – Fred M. Vinson of Kentucky today took the oath as 13th chief justice of the United States at an elaborate White House ceremony. In a speech at the swearing in, President Truman said Mr. Vinson would enhance national respect for the feud-ridden tribunal.

The ceremony on the South Portico of the White House had all the pomp and trappings of a presidential inaugural.

For the second time since the war ended, the iron gates to the White House were thrown open to the public. Thousands of persons jammed the south grounds to witness the historic ceremony.

Mr. Vinson succeeds the late Harlan F. Stone as chief of the nation’s highest court – and steps into one of the hottest spots in Washington. The court lately has been torn by a public feud between Justices Robert H. Jackson and Hugo L. Black.

Mr. Truman, in an apparent reference to the court split, said in a speech praising Mr. Vinson:

“All of us have the utmost respect for the courts of the country, and we know that that respect will be enhanced when Mr. Vinson becomes chief justice of the United States actively on the bench.”

The president said he thought the fact that Mr. Vinson was 13th chief justice was lucky for the country and for Justice Vinson, too.

“At least, I hope it is,” Mr. Truman said.

“Only 13 presidents have had the honor and privilege of appointing a chief justice of the United States,” President Truman said. “That duty fell upon me.

“It was one on which I labored long and faithfully. I finally decided to make the secretary of the Treasury the chief justice of the United States. And the one regret that I had was that I was losing Mr. Vinson from the Cabinet of the president.”

The oath was administered by Chief Justice D. Lawrence Groner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Mr. Vinson was called from the Appeals Court by the late President Roosevelt in May 1943 to become economic stabilizer. He later was war mobilizer and then secretary of the Treasury.

After taking the oath, Justice Vinson kissed a Bible given to him on his wedding day 23 years ago by R. C. McClure of Louisa, Kentucky, Mr. Vinson’s hometown.

House Speaker Sam Rayburn of Texas presided over the ceremony which began when a Navy bugler stepped into the bright, hot sun and sounded attention.

Mr. Rayburn described Justice Vinson as “a man who is capable of doing a great job.”

Justice Vinson stood at attention on the South Portico. His wife and two sons – James and Fred – a cousin, Mrs. Belle Vinson Hughes of Huntington, West Virginia; Mr. Truman; five associate justices of the Supreme Court; Cabinet members; congressional leaders and other dignitaries stood near him.

The ceremony was unprecedented. Usually, members of the court, including chief justices, take the oath in the stately chambers of the Supreme Court Building.

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Editorial: Chief Justice Vinson

Originally, they were called press agents. Then public relations experts. And finally, some were dignified – or dignified themselves – as public relations engineers.

The dean was Ivy Lee. He went to work for John D. Rockefeller Sr. In a few short years he transformed his client from an over-rich and rapacious enemy into a kindly old philanthropist.

Many outstanding public relationsists have developed since Ivy lee first conceived the full possibilities of the profession. Men like Steve Hannagan and Tom Shipp and Harry Hunt and, in wartime, Alexander Surles, Army, and Leland Lovett, Navy.

It’s an honorable profession. One of special pleading, of course. But that’s what lawyers do. And the law, too, is an honorable profession.

The big idea is to build up your client, get good will, pour oil on troubled waters, assuage, soothe, bind up the wounds, set the broken bones, mitigate, pacify, calm, allay, and otherwise make the patient not only comfortable but respectable.

What the Ivy Lees and the Steve Hannagans had to deal with was puny as compared with the public relations job that now falls to the lot of Frederick Moore Vinson, sworn in today on the south portico of the White House to be Chief Justice of the United States.

His is essentially a public relations problem, before he ever writes an opinion. It is to restore the dignity of and the public respect for our highest tribunal; to repair what the packing-plan concept nearly junked; to reinstitute that near-reverence – which once existed but is now perniciously anemic – for government by law, as symbolized by the Supreme Court.

Over the Cuyahoga County Court House in Cleveland is inscribed this: “Obedience to law is liberty.” If Chief Justice Vinson can get that truth accepted by the people of the United States, he will go down in our history as one of the greatest.

Our Supreme Court since the promulgation of the packing plan idea has trended rapidly toward the idea of government by men – by individuals and personal ideologies and prejudices and predilections and animosities – not by law. The court has fallen to sad estate. Two of its members are now wrestling in the gutter. Others yearn to be “at” each other. Dignity and respect have gone with the wind that was generated by a man who was too much in a hurry, and thought the court both a nuisance and an obstacle.

Enter Fred Vinson.

A fine public servant. A fine gentleman. A man with few if any enemies. One who can turn the public relations trick if anyone can.

Ours is supposed to be a government of equal and coordinate branches. It no longer is. It is definitely out of balance. To restore the Supreme Court to its proper place in that balance is Chief Justice Vinson’s immediate and solemn task.