Ludwell Lee Montague

Ludwell Lee Montague was born in Richmond City, Virginia. His father was Major Jeffrey Montague, a retired US Army officer. His mother was Harriotte Lee Taliaferro Montague, who was described as a scion of the Catlett family of Timber Neck and of the Nelson family of Yorktown.^[4] The Montague family home, Lowland Cottage in Gloucester County, was one of the few early Colonial houses that was still in use at the time.^[4]

Montague graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1928, and received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1935.^[5]

He was an assistant professor of history at VMI from 1934 until 1940, when his academic career was interrupted by World War II.^[5]

In October 1940, he was ordered to active duty in the Military Intelligence Division at the War Department General staff as a reserve captain.

In 1941, he was selected to be Secretary of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).^[5] He served with the JIC throughout the war in various capacities. From September 1943 onward he was the senior Army member of the Joint Intelligence Staff (corresponding to the JIC), with the grade of colonel. For these services he was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Order of the British Empire.^[5]

On the establishment of the Central Intelligence Group in 1946, he became Acting Assistant Director for Reports and Estimates. Subsequently he served in various senior positions in ORE.^[5]

From 1947 until 1951, Montague was assigned as the CIA representative of the National Security Council staff.^[6]

In the autumn of 1950, when Walter Bedell Smith became the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), Montague was put in charge of the production of national intelligence estimates. For the next two decades, he worked primarily in this capacity.^[6]

Montague later wrote an official CIA book about Smith, which was declassified and published decades after Montague died.^[7]