Lucius Durham Battle
| Lucius D. Battle | |
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United States Ambassador to Egypt |
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In office 1964–1967 |
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| President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
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| Born | June 1, 1918 Dawson, Georgia, United States |
| Died | May 13, 2008 (aged 89) Washington, D.C., United States |
| Spouse(s) | Betty Davis Battle |
| Profession | Diplomat |
Lucius Durham Battle (June 1, 1918 – May 13, 2008), known as Luke Battle, was a career Foreign Service officer who served with distinction in Washington, Europe and the Middle East.
Battle was born on June 1, 1918 in Dawson, Georgia and his family later moved to Bradenton, Florida. He received his undergraduate (1939) and law (1946) degrees from the University of Florida, and spent World War II in the Navy serving in the Pacific theatre.
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.
After the war, Battle moved to Washington with the goal of joining the foreign service. He had no prior connections and no Ivy league credentials, but with persistence he was finally hired to the Canada desk of the United States Department of State in 1946, during the administration of President Harry S. Truman. A chance encounter with Dean Acheson led to his being elevated to the position of Special Assistant to the Secretary of State. He traveled with Acheson, served as his right-hand man, attended meetings, and saw every piece of paper that entered or left the Secretary’s office. Acheson grew quite fond of his “indispensable aide,” once noting with a nod toward Battle, that a successful diplomat needs “an assistant with nerves of steel, a sense of purpose, and a Southern accent.” The two men would remain close friends for the rest of Acheson’s life.
As Acheson’s tenure was coming to a close, Battle moved overseas to serve as First Secretary in the American Embassy, Copenhagen from 1953 to 1955. Then he moved to Paris for one year at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Paris, under Lord Ismay before returning to the States in 1956 to work with the Rockefeller Family as Vice President of Colonial Williamsburg.
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