1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

72 THE SCROLL of Phi Delta Theta for November, 1953
President Eisenhower's
Statement
Immediately upon his notification of
Chief Justice Vinson's death, President
Eisenhower proclaimed 30 days of mourning,
decreeing that the national flag
should be flown at half staff during that
period on all Government buildings at
home and abroad. He also expressed his
grief at the death of his intimate friend
and issued the following statement:
"I share the nation's shock and grief
over Chief Justice Vinson's untimely
death. He was my close personal- friend
for many years and a statesman and jurist
whom I admired deeply.
"A man of exemplary character, he
possessed great human understanding, appreciation
of our national heritage and
a keen mind. He has filled positions of~
great responsibility in all three branches
pf government—legislative, administrative
and judicial. In all of them he served with
efficiency, dignity and integrity. He was
an outstanding citizen whose death is a
loss to America."
He was graduated in 1908 and received
A.B. and LL.B. degrees at Centre College,
Danville, Ky., in 1909 and 1911, respectively.
He was a brilliant student, winning
the alumni prize at Centre in 1909 and the
Jacobs junior and senior law prizes there
in 1911.
At Centre, where he signed the Bond as
No. 80 on the chapter roll, he was an outstanding
athlete, and was shortstop and
captain of the baseball team in 1910 and
1911. For a short time, he played with a
semipro club, but soon began practicing
law in Louisa.
His first public office was that of city
attorney. He became a Commonwealth's
Attorney, and in 1922 was elected the
United States House of Representatives. He
married Mrs. Vinson, also a native of
Louisa, on January 24, 1923.
He remained in the House for fourteen
years, with a two-year break when the
Hoover landslide of 1928 carried him to
defeat.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt took over'
the Presidency in 1933, Mr. Vinson played
TAKING OATH AS CHIEF JUSTICE
Brother Vinson reached the peak of his brilliant career when, on June 24, 1946, he was sworn in as
Chief Justice of the United States. In the picture above Mr. Vinson is being sworn in by Brother
Duncan Lawrence Groner, Washington ir Lee '92. Chief Justice of the District of Columbia Court of
Appeals. Mrs, Vinson and a cousin, Mrs, Belle Vinson Hughes, are at right.