Lucius D. Battle

Lucius Durham Battle (June 1, 1918 – May 13, 2008) was a career Foreign Service officer who served with distinction in Washington, Europe and Southwest Asia.

Early life Battle was born on June 1, 1918, in Dawson, Georgia, and his family later moved to Bradenton, Florida when he was 8 years old being one of six children in the family with one dying. He attended Bradenton High School being the sophomore class president, Macohi yearbook editor, playing tennis, swim along with being active in drama playing the violin. He received his undergraduate A.B. (1939) and law (1946) degrees from the University of Florida.

World War II would interrupt his education and initially served at the War Department's civilian personnel office for a year. From 1955 to 1956 he would be the Deputy Executive Secretary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization serving under Secretary General, Lord Ismay before he resigned in 1956 from the Foreign Service Executive Secretary being appointed on March 16, 1961 serving until May 2, 1962). and chaired the United States delegation for UNESCO during one year. He would help to coordinate cultural events in Washington and worked with Senator J. William Fulbright on the Fulbright Scholars program.

Ambassador to Egypt Battle would be appointed as the United States Ambassador to Egypt on July 31, 1964 and presented his credentials on September 22. During an interview Battle said that he did not have any interest in serving abroad when he was approached about being an ambassador to Egypt but did end up taking it anyways.

In Cairo, he faced a number of challenges. One was including an attack on the recently dedicated JFK Library, which was burned to the ground by a group of students protesting U.S. policies in the Congo on Thanksgiving Day in 1964, specifically about American support of Moïse Tshombe who was leading Katangan rebels with the Egyptian police standing by and not intervening with the library being burned down. Battle would ask Nassar for an apology.

Later on December 18 that year, a Texas oilman named John Mecom who was friends with President Johnson and one of his biggest financial backers had his plane shot down which the Egyptians said was by accident. Battle responded to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser saying that "because first you burn his libraries, then you kill his friends." that the country would not be receiving aid in response. The Israeli government claimed the attack was a case of mistaken identity. Survivors of the attack were ordered to not discuss the attack with anyone, including their families. Battle described the attack as “incomprehensible” and observed that “We failed to let it all come out publicly at the time. We really ignored it for all practical purposes, and we shouldn’t have…Most of us knew that they were guilty of a deliberate attack.” These comments have lent credibility to the theory that the attack was deliberate.

Later career In 1968, Battle resigned from the Foreign Service to work as Vice President of Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT).

Battle turned down two Ambassadorial posts: to Vietnam in the Johnson administration and to Iran in 1977, thereby avoiding captivity during the Iran hostage crisis.

He became president of the Middle East Institute, from June 1973 to 1975 before returning to Comsat until 1980. Next he started the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1980, and finished his career as president of the Middle East Institute from 1986 until his retirement in 1990.

In 1984, Ambassador Battle was awarded the Foreign Service Cup, an award given annually to a retired Foreign Service officer by Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired.

Personal life Lucius was known to enjoy reading.

His wife, Betty Davis Battle (1924–2004), was a Stanford-educated political scientist, attorney, and arts foundation official at the Woodward Foundation, which placed works by American artists in embassies around the world.

Affiliations Battle served on the board of directors of a number of institutions, including: Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Trustee, Washington Gallery of Modern Art President of the American Foreign Service Association Vice Chairman of Meridian House International Chairman of Governing Board at St. Albans School Member of the Chapter of the Washington National Cathedral President of Bacon House Foundation Trustee of the George C. Marshall Foundation Director of the Foreign Policy Association and the World Affairs Council National Board of the Smithsonian Associates Board of Governors of the Metropolitan Club American Academy of Diplomacy First chairman of the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute Trustee of the American University in Cairo Chairman of the Visiting Committee for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard College Member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies of Georgetown University Advisory Committee, American Near East Refugee Aid

Writings Communications and the Economy: Communications and Peace, by Lucius D. Battle, 1975 "Peace: Inshallah", article in Foreign Policy, No. 14, Spring 1974. , Oral History. 51 pp., 1974