at age 30. A Democrat, he was repeatedly re-elected, serving until age 81. Vinson served as a Representative from November 3, 1914, to January 3, 1965. He was repeatedly re-elected by Democratic voters for this seat. Vinson's first term in Congress was characterized by his support for segregation sponsoring bills to establish separate street cars and apartments for Blacks in the
District of Columbia, banning interracial marriage in the District, and repealing the
Fifteenth Amendment. During his tenure in the U.S. House, Vinson was a champion for national defense and especially the
U.S. Navy and the
U.S. Marine Corps. He joined the House Naval Affairs Committee shortly after
World War I and became the ranking Democratic member in the early 1920s. He was the only Democrat appointed to the
Morrow Board, which reviewed the status of aviation in America in the mid-1920s. In 1931, Vinson became chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee. In 1934, Vinson helped push the Vinson–Trammell Act, along with Democratic senator
Park Trammell of
Florida. The bill authorized the replacement of obsolete vessels by new construction and a gradual increase of ships within the limits of the
Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and
London Naval Treaty of 1930. Initial funding for the Vinson–Trammell Navy Act was provided by the
Emergency Appropriations Act of 1934. This was necessary as during the previous administration, not a single major warship was laid down and the US Navy was both aging and losing ground to the
Japanese Navy. Japan repudiated the naval treaties in late 1934. Vinson later was primarily responsible for additional naval expansion legislation, the
Naval Act of 1938 ("Second Vinson Act") and the
Third Vinson Act of 1940 (which was essentially a mere prelude to the Two-Oceans Act that followed a month later), as well as the
Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940. The ambitious program called for by this series of laws helped the U.S. Navy as the country entered
World War II, as new ships were able to match the latest ships from Japan. At the end of World War II, Congress had authorized four Naval four-star officers to be promoted to
Fleet Admiral. A staunch partisan of Admiral
William Halsey, Jr., Vinson blocked the nomination of Admiral
Raymond A. Spruance several times, although the majority thought him more deserving, to ensure that Halsey got the fourth billet. Congress eventually responded by passing an unprecedented act that specified that Spruance would remain on a full admiral's pay once retired until his death. Following World War II, the House Naval Affairs Committee was merged with the Military Affairs Committee to become the
House Armed Services Committee (this consolidation mirrored the establishment of the
Department of Defense when the old Departments of War and of the Navy were consolidated). When the Republicans won control of Congress
in the 1946 election, Vinson served as ranking minority member of the committee for two years before becoming chairman in early 1949, when the Democrats were again in majority; a position held for four years until the Republicans briefly returned to the majority for a single congressional term after the 1952 elections. After the Democrats retook congress in the 1954 midterms, Vinson again became chairman, a position he held until his retirement in 1965. In this role, Vinson adopted a committee rule that came to be known as the "Vinson rule", which limited the number of questions a junior member of the committee could ask to one question per year of service on the committee. As chairman, Vinson oversaw the modernization of the military as its focus shifted to the
Cold War. He was also committee chair when Congress authorized the procurement of the first nuclear-powered
aircraft carriers, starting with in the late 1950s. A staunch segregationist, Vinson voted against the
1964 Civil Rights Act and in 1956, signed
"The Southern Manifesto". Other Southern politicians signed this in resistance to the ruling by the United States Supreme Court in
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregated public education was unconstitutional, and that states needed to integrate their public schools. While serving in Congress, Vinson accumulated a voting record that was predominantly liberal. Vinson did not seek re-election in 1964 and retired from Congress in January 1965. ==Personal life==