 pauline lafon gore (october 6, 1912 &ndash; december 15, 2004) was the mother of former united states vice president al gore and the wife of former us senator al gore, sr.. she is credited with playing a significant role in both of their careers with al gore saying "there will never be a better campaigner than pauline lafon gore". her advice was an important factor in his refusal to sign the "southern manifesto" opposing desegregation and his opposition to the vietnam war which were critical issues in his bid for re-election as a senator in 1970. she came from a poor family in small business to become one of the first female lawyers to graduate from vanderbilt university and managed a washington law firm in the 1970s. ==from belle to barrister== she was born in palmersville, tennessee as one of six children. her parents, maude (nÃ©e gatlin) and walter l. lafon,ancestry of al gore (b. 1948) ran a general store, when her father got injured, the family moved to jackson, tennessee where her father worked for the tennessee highway department. despite the fact that her family was struggling and it was the great depression, pauline lafon was determined to graduate from college and waited on tables in order to pay her way. from 1931 to 1933, she attended union university, but did not earn a degree from that institution until nearly seven decades later where she was granted an honorary degree. in 1936, she became the 10th woman to graduate from vanderbilt university law school. she met albert gore, sr. while waiting tables at the andrew jackson hotel while he was studying for a law degree as well as farming and acting as the commissioner for schools. they ended up studying together for the bar exam where pauline lafon obtained a higher mark than albert gore, sr. following graduation from vanderbilt, she practiced law in texarkana, arkansas for a year before returning to tennessee and married albert gore sr on april 17, 1937. she practiced in oil and gas law and also divorce law, being one of the first women to practice law in those fields. ==political wife 1937&ndash;1970== al gore, sr. was a rising man in the tennessee political system when he married pauline lafon. he was appointed state labor commissioner later the same year and was elected to congress a year later. t
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