Former Rep. Sonny Montgomery dead at 85

The Boll Weevils
Montgomery was also part of a largely Southern group of conservative Democrats, dubbed the Boll Weevils for the tiny beetle that devours cotton plants, who helped Republican President Reagan enact his economic agenda.

He helped establish the House Prayer Breakfast Group and was a faithful participant in the weekly gatherings for more than 35 years. In 2000, the House of Representatives named the meeting room in the U.S. Capitol used for the gatherings in his honor.

He first won the seat in 1966, first defeating three opponents in the Democratic primary, then two more in the general election. He succeeded Rep. Prentiss Walker, who ran for U.S. Senate.

He easily won 14 more terms, usually getting more than 80 percent of the vote. But over the years the district — overwhelmingly Democratic in the old days of the “Solid South” — became heavily Republican. Even Montgomery’s winning total dropped to 68 percent in 1994 from 81 percent two years earlier. In 1996, a Republican, Chip Pickering, was elected to replace him.

Pickering paid tribute to him Friday, calling him “a Mississippi statesman with a 30-year dedication to our armed forces and veterans.”

“His legacy of public service stretches across generations and across party lines and is a testimony to his vision of strong America that honors our commitments to military service,” Pickering said.

Montgomery served under seven presidents and was particularly close to the first President Bush, a fellow congressman with him back in the late 1960s. Montgomery was a frequent visitor to the White House during his presidency and even spent Christmas holidays with the Bush family at Camp David, Md.

In 2005, Montgomery was one of 14 people awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by the second President Bush.

Born in Meridian in 1920, Montgomery joined the Army immediately after graduating from Mississippi State College (now University) in 1943. Serving in the European Theater during World War II, he won the Bronze Star for Valor and Legion of Merit.

A lifelong home
Montgomery never married, and during his many travels always considered Meridian his true home.

“I’ve been active and have not walked away from Meridian. I plan to be buried here — but not yet,” he said in 1999.

Montgomery operated a successful insurance business in Meridian before being elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1956. He served in the Legislature for 10 years before being elected to Congress in 1966. Among his accomplishments in Jackson was creation of the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television.

Montgomery remained in Washington and operated a lobbying firm for several years after leaving Congress in 1997. He retired in 2004 and returned to Meridian.

In Jackson, the Veterans Affairs Hospital bears his name, and last year an Army gunnery range at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg was named for him.

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