John D. Montgomery was born June 9, 1903 at Junction City, Kansas. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas in 1925. In 1931, he married University of Kansas graduate and journalist Mary Elizabeth Kennedy. Montgomery entered the newspaper business by publishing newspapers in Florida, Cuba, and Brazil before returning in 1952 to Junction City, where he became co-publisher with his father of the Junction City Daily Union --the newspaper founded by his grandfather in 1892. He was a member of the Kansas State Highway Commission from 1957 to 1961 and was state highway director from 1967 to 1973. He chaired the Democratic State Committee from 1960 to 1962, served as a member of the Democratic National Committee, and was twice a Democratic nominee for Congress. He was national director of the Association of the U.S. Army, receiving the Army's Outstanding Service Medal in 1964, and in 1974 was named to the Kansas Board of Regents. Montgomery died October 15, 1985 at Junction City. He was named to the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1988.
From the guide to the John D. Montgomery papers, 1922-1925, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
