Frederick Moore Vinson (1890-1953) was chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1946 to 1953, and he believed in the necessity of a strong central government.

Frederic Moore Vinson is probably America's least written-about chief justice. His obscurity protects his reputation. During seven years on the Supreme Court this conservative jurist persistently sacrificed individual rights to what he perceived as the needs of government.

His disappointing chief justiceship contrasted with a long and laudable career as a public servant. Vinson came to Washington from northeastern Kentucky, where he had been born on January 22, 1890, in the Louisa jail building. His father, then the jailer, also farmed, operated several businesses, and served as a town marshal. Young Fred was raised in a rather disciplinarian household. After receiving primary and secondary schooling in Louisa and nearby Cattlesburg, he matriculated at the Kentucky Normal School, from which he graduated in 1908. Vinson then...