Gillespie V. Montgomery
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Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery (August 5, 1920 – May 12, 2006) was an American soldier and politician from
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
who served in the
Mississippi Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol i ...
and U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1997. He was also a retired
major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
of the Mississippi
National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...
who served during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.


Early life

Born in
Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Merid ...
to Emily Jones and Gillespie Montgomery, Montgomery graduated from
McCallie School The McCallie School is a boys college-preparatory school located on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The school was founded in 1905 and now has 250 boarding students in grades 9–12 and 669 day students in grades 6–12 ...
and
Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...
in Starkville in 1943. While in college, Montgomery joined the Beta Tau chapter of
Kappa Alpha Order Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington and Lee University, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) i ...
.


Military service

A 1943
Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in a ...
graduate, Gillespie was commissioned as a
second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...
in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
. He served with the
12th Armored Division The 12th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It fought in the European Theater of Operations United States Army, European Theater of Operations in France, Germany and Austria, between November 194 ...
in Europe during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He served on active duty again during
Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
, this time as a member of the 31st Infantry Division. Montgomery was a member of the
Mississippi Army National Guard The Mississippi Army National Guard is the Army National Guard component of the Mississippi National Guard. It was originally formed in 1798. It is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. It is managed by the ...
until 1980, and retired as a
major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
. For his military service, Montgomery received the
Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight u ...
,
Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. W ...
with "V" for Valor device,
Army Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
and
Combat Infantryman Badge The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is a United States Army military decoration. The badge is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers in the rank of colonel and below, who fought in active ground combat while assigned as members of e ...
.


Business career

Before running for Congress, he owned his own insurance company, the Montgomery Insurance Agency. In addition, he served as vice president of the Greater Mississippi Life Insurance Company of Meridian, Mississippi.


U.S. House of Representatives


Committee assignments

*Chairman, Select Committee on Military Involvement in Southeast Asia (Ninety-first Congress) *Chairman, Select Committee on Missing in Action in Southeast Asia (Ninety-fourth Congress) *Chairman,
House Veterans' Affairs Committee The standing committee, standing Committee on Veterans' Affairs in the United States House of Representatives oversees agencies, reviews current legislation, and recommends new Act of Congress, bills or amendments concerning U.S. military veteran ...
(Ninety-seventh through One Hundred Third Congresses)


Elections

Montgomery represented part of Meridian in the
Mississippi State Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...
between 1956 and 1966. He was elected to Congress from what was then the 4th District in 1966. Prentiss Walker, the first
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
elected to either house of Congress from Mississippi since
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
, had given up the seat after one term to run for the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
against
James O. Eastland James Oliver Eastland (November 28, 1904 February 19, 1986) was an American attorney, plantation owner, and politician from Mississippi. A Democrat, he served in the United States Senate in 1941 and again from 1943 until his resignation on Dece ...
. Montgomery defeated
Lewis McAllister Lewis Leslie "Mack" McAllister, Jr. (born September 25, 1932), is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing Lauderdale County, from 1963 to 1968. He was the first Republican i ...
, also of Meridian, who had been the first Republican elected to the
Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...
since Reconstruction. Walker ran again for the seat in 1968 but lost to Montgomery, who received 70 percent of the vote. Montgomery was re-elected a total of fourteen times from the majority-white district, serving for thirty years until 1997. His district was renumbered as the 3rd District after the 1970 census, when Mississippi lost a district in redistricting. Montgomery was one of the more conservative Democrats in the House, and was known for being more "hawkish" than other members of his party. He was very popular in his district, usually winning reelection by some of the highest margins in the country. Although the district's voters were increasingly willing to vote Republican at the national level (it has only supported the official Democratic candidate for president once since 1956), at the local level Montgomery usually faced "
sacrificial lamb A sacrificial lamb is a metaphorical reference to a person or animal sacrificed for the common good. The term is derived from the traditions of Abrahamic religion where a lamb is a highly valued possession. In politics In politics, a sacrifici ...
" opponents on the few occasions he faced any Republican opposition at all. Montgomery ran unopposed from 1970 to 1974, in 1980, and from 1984 to 1990. In four elections—1972, 1980, 1984 and 1988—Montgomery ran unopposed even as the Republican presidential candidate carried the district in a landslide. Observers assumed that Montgomery would be succeeded by a Republican after he retired, given the crossover of conservative white voters from the Democratic Party to the GOP in the second half of the 20th century. As it turned out, when Montgomery retired in 1996, the district was taken by Republican
Chip Pickering Charles Willis "Chip" Pickering Jr. (born August 10, 1963) is an American businessman and former politician who has been the incumbent chief executive officer of Incompas since 2014. Pickering represented as a Republican in the United States ...
in a landslide. The Democrats have only put up a candidate in the district four times since then, and have only won more than 35 percent of the vote once.


Tenure

During his time in Congress, Montgomery was one of only three Representatives who voted to reject the Judiciary Committee's report on the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...
following Nixon's resignation; Montgomery joined
Earl Landgrebe Earl Fredrick Landgrebe (January 21, 1916 – June 29, 1986) was an American politician and businessman who served as a Republican senator in the Indiana Senate and member of the United States House of Representatives. During the Watergate sca ...
and
Otto Passman Otto Ernest Passman (June 27, 1900 – August 13, 1988) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 5th congressional district from 1947 until 1977. As a congressman, Passman chaired the Hous ...
as the three opposed compared to 412 in favor. He was the author of the G.I. Bill of Rights that gives members of the service money to pay for college and was a lead sponsor in establishing the
Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...
cabinet-level position. Montgomery gave a speech on the House floor in April 1975 in which he spoke against
foreign aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...
to South Vietnam and said, "The South Vietnamese can blame only themselves for their present situation." Montgomery's greatest legislative victory was the enactment of the bill that bears his name: the Montgomery
GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
. In 1981, he came to the forefront to lead the fight for passage of a new G.I. Bill. As a World War Il veteran, he believed that the country should provide educational benefits to its service members and that the combination of military service and a college degree would make these individuals valuable assets to the country. He also wanted to reverse the Department of Defense's declining recruitment efforts, which had dropped sharply in the 1980s, and improve the overall quality of the volunteers. Nearly half of those recruited during that time lacked high-school diplomas and the basic skills needed in a modern military. Congressman Montgomery saw that educational shortfall as a direct threat to America's military readiness and national security. As Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, Montgomery led opposition to the Kerry-Daschle bill (Agent Orange Disabilities Act of 1987, S.1787) that would have required the VA to begin compensating veterans who contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and lung cancer a presumed service-connected disease. Montgomery asserted that "further studies were needed to prove a connection between various diseases and Agent Orange before the government should be held liable for disability benefits" despite several such JAMA published studies by the National Cancer Institute and the VA and one by the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission. Subsequent scientific studies made connections between Agent Orange and Vietnam Veterans illnesses and the increased birth defects of their children. In 1991 Montgomery stood behind president George H. W. Bush at the signing of the Agent Orange Act. He had opposed a similar bill the previous year. After years of opposing Vietnam Veterans receiving disability for exposure to Agent Orange, he now appeared as their champion. In the same year he authored the Montgomery Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987, which effectively transferred control of the National Guard away from the states and to the Department of Defense by prohibiting state governors from withholding National Guard forces. On September 13, 1988, Montgomery became the first congressman to lead the U.S. House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as a permanent part of its daily and morning business operations. The day prior to his death, Congressman Gene Taylor introduced an amendment to a House Defense Appropriations Bill to rename the bill the Sonny Montgomery National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. Following his death, James F. Webb Funeral Home in
Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Merid ...
performed the funeral services. President George W. Bush ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half staff. In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives canceled non- suspension votes on the day of his funeral. Montgomery was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Meridian, Mississippi. He was a delegate to
Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
from Mississippi in 1996. On November 10, 2005, he was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
, the highest American civilian honor, by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
George W. Bush

Montgomery had played
paddleball Paddle ball is a one-person game played with a paddle and an attached ball. Using the flat paddle with the small rubber ball attached at the center via an elastic string, the player tries to hit the ball with the paddle in succession as many tim ...
with Bush's father, George H. W. Bush.


Memorials

* A statue of Montgomery on the campus of
Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...
where he was Student Association President for the 1942–43 school year. A bust of him is located in the campus library and a duplicate bust is located at the
Mississippi Armed Forces Museum The Mississippi Armed Forces Museum is located at Camp Shelby, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Armed Forces Museum serves as the military history museum for the State of Mississippi. It is a member of the ...
at
Camp Shelby Camp Shelby is a military post whose North Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on United States Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to s ...
alongside Congressman Montgomery's personal effects from his military service in the Second World War and National Guard. A number of public projects have been named in his honor, including: * The
VA Hospital Veterans' health care in the United States is separated geographically into 19 regions (numbered 1, 2, 4-10, 12 and 15–23) In January 2002, the Veterans Health Administration announced the merger of VISNs 13 and 14 to create a new, combined netw ...
in
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...
* The G. V. Montgomery Lock on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway * The G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery Naval Reserve Center at
NAS Meridian Naval Air Station Meridian or NAS Meridian is a military airport located 11 miles northeast of Meridian, Mississippi in Lauderdale County and Kemper County, and is one of the Navy's two jet strike pilot training facilities. History On July 16, ...
in
Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Merid ...
* The G. V. Montgomery Airport in
Forest, Mississippi Forest is a city and the county seat of Scott County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,684 at the 2010 census and the population is a minority-majority. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total a ...
* A Mississippi Air National Guard C-17 Globemaster III was named “The Spirit of G.V. ‘Sonny’ Montgomery.” Montgomery became the third person in the United States to have a military fleet named in his honor. * The G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. * Th
G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Advisement and Career Services Center
ref>
at Mississippi State University's Meridian, Mississippi College Park campus. * The G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery Conference and Special Events Room at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office building in Washington, D.C.


References


External links

Retrieved on 2009-5-13
The G.V. Sonny Montgomery FoundationThe Montgomery Institute
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Sonny 1920 births 2006 deaths Democratic Party Mississippi state senators Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients United States Army generals Politicians from Meridian, Mississippi Mississippi State University alumni United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War National Guard (United States) generals Recipients of the Order of the Sword (United States) Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi 20th-century American politicians