James K. Vardaman, Jr.

James Kimble Vardaman Jr. (1894–1972) was an American lawyer from Mississippi, a US Navy captain during World War II, and political aide to President Harry S. Truman. He had worked as counsel for banks in Missouri before the war, and was appointed as a Governor of the Federal Reserve System, serving from 1946 to 1958.

Early life
James Kimble Vardaman Jr. was born in 1894 in Greenwood, Mississippi. His father, James K. Vardaman, served as the Governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908 and was the first United States Senator elected in Mississippi by popular vote, serving from 1913 to 1919.

Vardaman attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. He earned a Law degree from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi in 1914. He served in the United States Army from 1917 to 1919 during World War I, retiring as a Captain.

Career
In the early 1920s, Vardaman worked as a lawyer to banks in Missouri. He worked for the Liberty-Central Trust Company in 1926. He later worked for the Tower Grove National Bank and Trust in Saint Louis.

During World War II, he joined the United States Navy and served in Algeria. By the end of the war in 1945, he was assigned as a naval aide to President Harry S. Truman. In this role, Vardaman attended the Potsdam Conference from July–August 1945. He continued to assist Truman after the war.

Vardaman chose Clark Clifford as his assistant, but Clifford would soon bypass him, being appointed as Truman's special counsel in 1946. According to First Lady Margaret Truman, the President thought that Vardaman had an "acute case of Potomac fever", which did not align with his own feelings.

Vardaman gained an appointment as a Governor of the Federal Reserve, serving from 1946 to 1958. During his tenure, he was "a proponent of price and wage controls." Shortly after, he worked in the financial sector in Albany, Georgia.

Honors
For his World War II service in the Navy, Vardaman received the Legion of Merit and the Silver Star.

Death
He died in 1972.