Contact: Maridith Geuder
A Thursday [Sept. 25] public program at Mississippi State will honor a university alumnus who became one of the state's senior congressmen and the nation's leading advocate for military veterans.
G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, who represented Mississippi's 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 15 terms, will be the focus of remarks in the Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library. The 3 p.m. event is the first of the 2003-04 Morris Collins Lecture Series.
The 14 scheduled speakers range from Montgomery's lifelong friends to public service colleagues to university officials to students involved in the campus John C. Stennis-G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Association. They include Mike Ballard, Josh Blades, Anne Buffington, Rex Buffington, Frances Coleman, Jane Anna Harris, Lamar McDonald, Bob Montgomery, Hank Mosley, Al Rosenbaum, Sid Salter, Kyle Steward, Wayne Weidie, and Marty Wiseman.
Montgomery will be in attendance and, during a reception following the program, will sign copies of his new autobiography. "Sonny Montgomery: The Veteran's Champion" was published earlier this year by University Press of Mississippi.
The lecture series is named for the political scientist who first directed MSU's John C. Stennis Institute of Government. Held throughout the fall and spring semesters, the programs feature leading figures and others in the public arena who help currently enrolled students gain a better appreciation for the state's rich political history and the men and women who played key roles in its development.
Now in its fourth year, the series is sponsored by the Stennis Institute, MSU Libraries' Congressional and Political Research Center and Stennis-Montgomery Association. The Stennis Center for Public Service, a Starkville-based federal agency that promotes public service leadership, is co-sponsoring the September program.
"Sonny Montgomery is recognized as one of the senior statesmen of our nation and will long be remembered for his passionate work on behalf of U.S. veterans," said Wiseman, Stennis Institute director. An overhauled G.I. bill championed by Montgomery was passed by Congress in 1984 and now is known as the Montgomery G.I. Bill, he added.
A 1943 business graduate, Montgomery is a former "Mr. MSU," Meridian insurance executive and state senator. He also is a retired major general in the Mississippi Army National Guard. Volumes of official papers and other material from his decades in elected office are among the considerable holdings of the Congressional and Political Research Center at Mitchell Memorial Library.
In addition to the landmark veteran's legislation initiated while in Congress, Montgomery also chaired the House Select Committee on Americans Missing in Action in Southeast Asia.
"Sonny Montgomery is a model of what we want in a leader in public service," said Rex Buffington, Stennis Center executive director.
"This event provides an opportunity for students to learn more about his character, commitment, courage, and patriotism," Buffington said. "Our greatest aim is to hold the Montgomery model up for students who will aspire to follow in his footsteps as they chart their own career paths."
For more information, telephone the MSU Libraries at (662) 325-4019.