[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2290-E2291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DAVID MONTGOMERY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note the 
passing of David Montgomery, after a long and well-lived life.
  David Montgomery had many roles in his life: machinist, union 
activist, educator, author and, most importantly, father and husband.
  Dr. Montgomery came to my state of Connecticut in 1979, where he had 
a distinguished research, writing and teaching career. It was there 
that he wrote his most notable work, ``Fall of the House of Labor: The 
Workplace, the State and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925,'' which 
was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1989.
  More than an author though, Dr. Montgomery was an activist who 
started his career not in academia, but on the shop floor. In the 
1950s, after graduating from college, he went to work as a machinist, 
where he began to organize workers to join the International 
Association of Machinists. He was black-listed and fired from his first 
job in Minneapolis as a result of his organizing efforts, as he was 
repeatedly throughout his career. Yet, instead of ceding his cause, he 
continued to fight for his values. He then made a remarkable 
transition: he earned his doctorate and began a career in teaching. Dr. 
Montgomery taught at several colleges, eventually becoming the Farnum 
Professor of History at Yale.
  But whatever job he had, he never stopped being an activist. Dr. 
Montgomery helped strengthen the resolve of workers and activists while 
teaching in New Haven. His research and teaching informed his students 
about the history of working people, and he inspired generations of 
students to study that history as they sought to change the nation. He 
knew that by valuing the dignity of work and recognizing workers' 
struggle for justice in their workplace and country, we could help 
build a more just society.
  A former student of his, Jennifer Klein, captured his essence when 
she said in a press account that Dr. Montgomery was not only ``the 
model of the scholar-activist but also the activist-scholar.''

[[Page E2291]]

  My heartfelt condolences to Dr. Montgomery's wife, Martel, his sons 
Claude and Edward, his five grandchildren, his brother Daniel and 
sister Virginia.
  Dr. Montgomery led the kind of full and committed life to which all 
of us should aspire. He will be missed by all who were lucky enough to 
know him.

                          ____________________