Early Life and Career
James Ralph Sasser was born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 30, 1936. He attended public schools in Nashville. Sasser attended the University of Tennessee from 1954 to 1955, where he joined the Lambda Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in 1958; followed by his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1961. He was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1961 and began practicing law in Nashville.
From 1957 to 1963, Sasser served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves.
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Jim Sasser was a long time Democratic activist, manager of Albert Gore, Sr.'s unsuccessful 1970 reelection campaign. A lawyer by trade, Sasser sought election in his own right and won his party's 1976 nomination for the Senate. He defeated, among others, Nashville entrepreneur and attorney John Jay Hooker, then still considered to be a serious candidate due to his strong personality, his (intermittent) wealth, and his connections with the Nashville Tennessean's controlling Seigenthaler family. His son Gray Sasser, also a lawyer, is the past chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party.
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