Early life and education
Sawyer was born in San Francisco, California. He attended public schools of the San Francisco Bay area before graduating from Marin Junior College (now the College of Marin), Kentfield, California and from the University of California, Berkeley in 1940. He earned a Juris Doctor, J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1943.Career
He served in the United States Navy during World War II, after which he settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan and established a successful private law practice. From 1968 to 1976, Sawyer was a member of the Michigan Law Revision Commission. From 1975 to 1976, he was prosecuting attorney for Kent County, Michigan, Kent County. In 1976, Sawyer defeated incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democrat Richard Vander Veen to reclaim Michigan's 5th congressional district for the Republican Party (United States), Republicans. The seat had been held by Gerald R. Ford until he was appointed to become Vice President of the United States; it had been in Republican hands without interruption from 1913 until Vander Veen's victory. Sawyer benefited from the presence of Ford atop the ticket in his bid for a full term as president. Sawyer was elected to the 95th United States Congress, Ninety-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1977 to January 3, 1985. However, he did not have nearly as easy a time of it as Ford or his Republican predecessors. In 1978, he only defeated Democratic challenger Dale Sprik by 0.7 percent, a difference of 1,100 votes. He had a slightly easier time in 1980, defeating Sprik by seven points in a rematch. In 1982, he defeated former state representative Stephen Monsma with 53 percent of the vote. These would be the last times that a Democrat managed 40 percent of the vote in the district in the 20th century (it was renumbered as the Michigan's 3rd congressional district, 3rd district in 1993). Sawyer served on the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy, assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr. Sawyer was one of four members who dissented from the Committee's finding that John F. Kennedy assassination Dictabelt recording, Dictabelt evidence suggested that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy." Responding to a question asking how he would handle the Committee's report if he were at the United States Department of Justice, Justice Department, he replied: "I'd file it in a circular file." Sawyer stated that the conclusions in both cases were based on "supposition upon supposition upon supposition".Death
In 2003, Sawyer died of throat cancer at his home in Algoma Township, Michigan, Algoma Township. He is interred in Rockford Cemetery, in Rockford, Michigan.References
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