Virginia Vignettes

John Stewart Battle served as governor of Virginia from 1950 to 1954. A loyal Democrat in line with the Byrd Organization, the state machine run by U.S. Senator Harry Flood Byrd Sr., Battle overcame a spirited challenge by three fellow Democrats to win the 1949 gubernatorial primary. His greatest achievement as governor was a massive school construction program to accommodate the first wave of the baby boom. Battle gained national recognition when he addressed the 1952 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, in a successful effort to prevent the Virginia delegation from losing its vote due to a disagreement over a loyalty oath. Although the U.S. Supreme Court did not announce its landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education—which mandated the desegregation of public schools—until after Battle left office, civil rights issues emerged during his term. Students went on strike at R. R. Moton High School in Prince Edward County, leading to a court case that eventually joined with Brown. Battle also threatened to close state parks rather than desegregate them. In an ironic end to his public service, Battle was appointed by U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1957.

Further Reading:

James R. Sweeney, “A Segregationist on the Civil Rights Commission: John S. Battle, 1957–1959,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 105 (Summer 1997): 287–316.

This Vignette Provided By

James R. Sweeney, associate professor of History at Old Dominion University in Norfolk