Sonny Montgomery

Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery (August 5, 1920 – May 12, 2006) was an American soldier and politician from Mississippi who served in the Mississippi Senate and U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1997.

He was also a retired major general of the Mississippi National Guard who served during World War II.

He served on active duty again during Korean War, this time as a member of the 31st Infantry Division.

Born in Meridian, Mississippi to Emily Jones and Gillespie Montgomery, Montgomery graduated from McCallie School and Mississippi State University in Starkville in 1943.

While in college, Montgomery joined the Beta Tau chapter of Kappa Alpha Order.

A 1943 Reserve Officers' Training Corps graduate, Gillespie was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army.

Montgomery represented part of Meridian in the Mississippi State Senate between 1956 and 1966.

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" opponents on the few occasions he faced any Republican opposition at all.

He was elected to Congress from what was then the 4th District in 1966.

Prentiss Walker, the first Republican elected to either house of Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction, had given up the seat after one term to run for the United States Senate against James O. Eastland.

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.

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.

Montgomery gave a speech on the House floor in April 1975 in which he spoke against foreign aid 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.

Montgomery was a member of the Mississippi Army National Guard until 1980, and retired as a major general.

For his military service, Montgomery received the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with "V" for Valor device, Army Commendation Medal and Combat Infantryman Badge.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

As it turned out, when Montgomery retired in 1996, the district was taken by Republican Chip Pickering 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.

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 following Nixon's resignation; Montgomery joined Earl Landgrebe and Otto Passman 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 cabinet-level position.

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.

He served with the 12th Armored Division in Europe during World War II.