Born to a middle-class family in Shanggan Township [zh] (尚幹鄉), Minhou County, Fuzhou, Lin was educated by American missionaries.

After the failed Second Revolution against President Yuan Shikai, Lin fled with Sun Yat-sen to Japan and joined his Chinese Revolutionary Party.

In 1917, he followed Sun to Guangzhou where he continued to lead its "extraordinary session" during the Constitutional Protection Movement.

The party pre-empted this faction and the ensuing congress expelled Western Hills' leaders and suspended the membership of the followers.

Lin rose to become the leader of the Western Hills faction and undertook a world tour after the demise of the Beiyang government.

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria prevented the civil war from erupting, however it did cause Chiang to resign on 15 December.

He was chosen as a sign of personal respect and held few powers since the Kuomintang wanted to avoid a repeat of Chiang's rule.

He never used the Presidential Palace, where Chiang continued to reside, and preferred his modest rented house near the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

As he was in hospice, he urged the recovery of Taiwan be included in the post-war settlement; it became part of the Cairo Declaration months later.

The central executive committee elected Chiang as chairman of government a few hours after Lin's death.

While studying as a postgraduate student in Ohio State University, James Lin married Viola Brown, a five-and-ten-cent store clerk, although he was reported already to have two wives in China.