The Honorable John M. Spratt, United States representative for the Fifth Congressional District of South Carolina, will deliver the commencement address to the South Carolina Corps of Cadets Class of 2009.

The Corps of Cadets commencement begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 9, 2009 in McAlister Field House.

Rep. Spratt was first elected to the United States Congress in 1982. As chairman of the Budget Committee, Rep. Spratt is the second ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee and is a member of three subcommittees: Oversight and Investigations, Strategic Forces, and Air and Land Forces.

Spratt was born in Charlotte, N.C., but grew up in York, S.C., where he still resides. After graduating from York High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Davidson College in 1964. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University in 1966 while studying on a Marshall Scholarship and he earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1969.

Spratt was a captain in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971, serving in the Operations Analysis Group in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) at the Pentagon. 

For more information about commencement 2009 at The Citadel, click here.