Embassy Row

Death of a diplomat

Friends and relatives of Ambassador Lucius Durham Battle will gather tomorrow to remember a diplomat who helped improve U.S.-Arab relations and helped shape American foreign policy during the Cold War.

Mr. Battle, who had Parkinson’s disease, died Tuesday, just weeks short of his 90th birthday.

“For untold numbers of Americans of all ages and walks of life, Lucius Durham Battle was forever, for me and for many, a constant source of wind beneath the wings,” said John Duke Anthony, a friend of more than 35 years.

Mr. Battle served as chairman of the advisory board of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations since 1995. Mr. Anthony is the president and chief executive officer of the council, which he helped established in 1983.

In a testimonial, he described Mr. Battle and himself as “two dyed-in-the-wool Southern boys” who had journeyed “north towards home — a point on the compass that, with a chuckle, we acknowledged … whenever we reflected on how far we had strayed from our ancestral origins.”

Mr. Battle was born June 1, 1918, in the small town of Dawson, Ga., which today claims only about 5,000 residents. He earned a law degree from the University of Florida and served in the Navy in the Pacific in World War II. His diplomatic career began after the war.

He joined the Foreign Service and was assigned to the staff of Secretary of State George C. Marshall, just as the United States was preparing for the post-war reconstruction of Europe under the Marshall Plan. He later served under Secretary of State Dean Acheson during the Korean War. Mr. Battle went to Paris as a U.S. diplomat assigned to the staff of the first secretary-general of NATO,Britain’s Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay.

President Kennedy appointed Mr. Battle assistant secretary of state for education and culture, a position he used to promote a program to encourage private contributions for the purchase of American artwork for U.S. embassies. Mr. Battle also helped save ancient Egyptian monuments from flooding of the Nile River.

President Johnson sent him to Egypt as U.S. ambassador. In Cairo, Mr. Battle used his diplomatic skills to ease Cold War tensions with President Gamal Abdel Nasser and his vice president, Anwar Sadat, when Egypt was pursuing a pan-Arabic and pro-Soviet strategy. Mr. Battle helped arrange Mr. Sadat’s visit to the United States in 1966, a trip that helped nourish pro-American sentiments in the future Egyptian president, who would sign peace accords with Israel during the Carter administration.

“Few Americans in their post-diplomatic career can claim to have accomplished as many exceptional and varied feats as Luke Battle did from the late 1970s until his passing,” Mr. Anthony said.

After retiring from the Foreign Service, Mr. Battle served two terms as president of the Middle East Institute, chaired the advisory council of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, founded the university’s Foreign Policy Institute, served on the board of advisors of Harvard University’s Middle East Center and founded the American Institute for Islamic Studies.

He is survived by two daughters, two sons and several grandchildren. The memorial service will begin at 10 a.m. at Christ Church in Georgetown at 31st and O streets Northwest.

Moscow’s think tank

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