INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Paul Simon, a former U.S. representative and senator from Illinois, will be this year's recipient of the Harry S. Truman Award for Public Service.

Simon will be given the award in a ceremony May 2.

Simon was selected because of a public-service career that spanned more than 40 years, paralleling that of the former president from Missouri, Independence Mayor Ron Stewart said in a letter to Simon.

"That distinguished career was built on the same foundation as that of President Truman -- integrity, trust and compassion," Stewart wrote.

Simon was elected to the House in 1974 and served five consecutive terms. In 1984, he was elected to the Senate, where he served two six-year terms. Before that, he was a state representative, state senator and lieutenant governor in Illinois.

Simon, who was unsuccessful in a 1988 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been teaching political science, history and journalism at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale since 1997.

Ken Hechler, a former secretary of state and nine-term West Virginia congressman, received the award last year. Former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan was given the award posthumously in 2001.