Background
Battle was born in 1890 in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina.
Battle was born in 1890 in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina.
University of Virginia. Wake Forest University.
He then earned a bachelor"s degree from Wake Forest University (then college) and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Battle was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1929, and to the Virginia State Senate in 1934, where he served until 1949, when he resigned upon his election as governor. Battle was a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, and 1968.
In 1956, he was a candidate for the Presidential nomination, eventually losing in floor voting to former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson.
When the Virginia delegation was threatened with expulsion at the 1952 Democratic Party national convention for refusing to sign a loyalty oath to whomever the party nominated, Battle delivered a speech to the convention that forestalled expulsion and helped prevent a split like the Democrats experienced in 1948. After his term ended, Battle went into semi retirement in Charlottesville, Virginia, although he did practice law.
Battle did harbor political ambitions, and was prepared to run for the United States Senate in 1958 if the incumbent Senator Harry F. Byrd Senior, chose not to run for reelection. Former Governor (and then Congressman) William Tuck had the same ambitions, and Byrd chose not to run again to avoid the political infighting that would result from a Battle-Tuck primary fight.
In 1959, President Eisenhower called on Battle to serve on the United States. Commission on Civil Rights, citing his moderate history on racism.
Battle died in 1972, at the age of 81, and was buried in Monticello Memorial Park in Charlottesville.P Battle was the father of William C. Battle, (1920–2008), a lawyer, businessmen, United States Ambassador to Australia, and president of the United States Golf Association, and John South. Battle, Junior. (1919–1997), a lawyer who was a Founding Trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Free Expression and who served two terms on the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia (1982-1990). John South. Battle High School in Washington County, Virginia, built in 1959, bears his name.
Battle Hall at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind is also named for him.
1949; Battle was elected Governor of Virginia with 70.43% of the vote, defeating Republican Walter Johnson and Social Democrat Clark T. Robb.