Understanding the Death Penalty in Tennessee (Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., circa April 1977)

In 1977, a minister from Northwest Tennessee wrote to freshman Tennessee Democratic US. Senator James Ralph Sasser, in which the Christian minister shared his sentiments passionately supporting the death penalty.  

Sen. Sasser's handwritten note on the draft letter was then duly typed up by a staff member and was added to the Senator's response that was sent to the minister: "As one who was subjected to capital punishment, I wonder how our Saviour would vote on the issue."

I was honored to be the youngest staff member on Senator Jim Sasser's Washington, D.C. staff at age 20.

Upon reading the pro-death penalty letter from an ordained minister of the Gospel, Senator Sasser softly asked, "Wally, how do you spell "Saviour?" That's when the junior Senator from Tennessee hand-wrote a note at the bottom of the draft letter prepared by senior staff. He wrote, ""As one who was subjected to capital punishment, I wonder how our Saviour would vote on the issue." That note was added into the final version of the letter mailed to the minister.

49 years later, Senator Sasser's question haunts us all, after a cruel unusual botched execution.