After joint decisions of the Virginia Supreme Court and three-judge federal panel on January 19, 1959, undercut the Massive Resistance laws, known as the Stanley Plan (which, among other provisions, proposed closing any public school acceding to a court desegregation order), Battle ultimately negotiated a settlement with the NAACP, and Charlottesville public schools reopened.

The younger Battle later worked on Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign and was appointed Ambassador to Australia, serving from 1962 to 1964.

In 1969, in an election that became known for the crumbling of the Massive Resistance and the Byrd Organization, Battle, the Democrats' gubernatorial candidate, lost to Linwood Holton.

Holton who later put his children in Richmond's mostly African-American public schools, became the first Republican governor of the Commonwealth since the end of the Reconstruction Era.

In 1978, Battle was elected to the executive committee of the United States Golf Association where he served until 1989.