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.

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."

[10] After the election of President John F. Kennedy in 1960, Battle returned to Washington to rejoin the State Department as its first[12] Executive Secretary being appointed on March 16, 1961 serving until May 2, 1962).

[13] One of the first decisions done by Battle would be to carry out a planned reorganization of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs abolishing the director position putting the Assistant Secretary in charge.

[9] Prior to being appointed he did not have any previous experience in the Middle East but while serving as the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs he did try to secure approval from Congress for projects such as Abu Simbel.

[18] 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.

[9] As President Nassar was worried food aid may not come as he sent the Minister of Supply, Ramsey Stino to meet with which took place a few hours after he had returned from the site of the wreckage.

Battle was angry and distraught over the crash with Stino offering him orange juice followed by coffee to calm him down he refused saying he did not feel he could talk about it but thought the food program would make it.

On March 5, 1967, Battle left Egypt to return to Washington to take up the position of Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and North Africa.