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U.S. NEWS Thursday 22 February 2018

Billy Graham went from tent revivals to the White House

By RACHEL ZOLL er telling Nixon that Jews who found the strength to
JONATHAN DREW "don't know how I really feel withstand temptation after
MONTREAT, N.C. (AP) — As about what they're doing attending a Billy Graham
a young man, he practiced to this country." crusade.
his sermons by preaching Graham apologized, say- In the 1950s he created a
to the alligators and birds ing he didn't recall ever syndicated newspaper col-
in the swamp. At his height having such feelings. He umn, “My Answer,” which
years later, he was bringing asked the Jewish commu- at its height reached tens
the word of God into living nity to consider his actions of millions of readers.
rooms around the globe via instead of his words. Early on, he took up the
TV and dispensing spiritual At the height of his career, cause of anti-communism,
counsel — and political ad- he would be on the road preaching against its athe-
vice — to U.S. presidents. for months at a time. The istic evils. But he was much
The Rev. Billy Graham, strain of so much preach- less robust in his support
dubbed "America's Pas- ing caused the already trim for civil rights and did join
tor" and the "Protestant Graham to lose as much as his fellow clergymen in the
Pope," died Wednesday 30 pounds by the time one movement’s marches, a
at his North Carolina home In this Oct 26, 1994 photo, Evangelist Billy Graham begins his of his crusades ended. position he later said he re-
at age 99 after achieving sermon in Atlanta's Georgia Dome. Graham, who transformed His wife, Ruth, mostly stayed gretted.
a level of influence and American religious life through his preaching and activism, be- behind at their mountain- “I think I made a mistake
reach no other evangelist is coming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard side home in Montreat to when I didn’t go to Selma”
likely ever to match. Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark De- raise their five children: to join the Rev. Martin Lu-
More than anyone else, Moss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumo- Franklin, Virginia ("Gigi"), ther King Jr., he said in a
nia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on
the magnetic, Hollywood- Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99. Anne, Ruth and Nelson 2005 interview. “I would like
handsome Graham built (AP Photo/John Bazemore) ("Ned"). Ruth sometimes to have done more.”
evangelicalism into a force grew so lonely when Bil- Still, Graham ended racially
that rivaled liberal Protes- the pulpit with a powerful president, Harry Truman, ly was traveling that she segregated seating at his
tantism and Roman Cathol- baritone voice. His catch- was a disaster. Wearing a slept with his tweed jacket Southern crusades in 1953,
icism in the United States. phrase: "The Bible says ..." pastel suit and loud tie that for comfort. But she said, a year before the Supreme
He transformed the tent Despite his international re- he would later say made "I'd rather have a little of Court’s school integration
revival into an event that nown, he would be the first him look like a vaudeville Bill than a lot of any other ruling, and long refused to
filled football arenas, and to say his message was not performer, the preacher, man." visit South Africa while its
reached the masses by complex or unique. But he unfamiliar with protocol, Beyond Graham's TV ap- white regime insisted on
making pioneering use won over audiences with told reporters what he had pearances and speaking separating the races at
of TV in prosperous post- his friendliness, humility and discussed with Truman, engagements, he reached meetings.
war America. By his final unyielding religious convic- then posed for photos. multitudes through network Graham’s integrity lifted
crusade in 2005, he had tion. But those were early stum- radio, including "The Hour him through the dark days
preached in person to He had an especially strong bles on his path to fame of Decision," film and news- of the late 1980s, after
more than 210 million peo- influence on the religion and influence. papers. scandals befell TV preach-
ple worldwide. and spirituality of Ameri- His first White House visit with One of Graham's break- ers Jimmy Swaggart and
All told, he was the most can presidents, starting Lyndon Johnson, sched- through films was "The Rest- Jim Bakker. Graham had
widely heard Christian with Dwight Eisenhower, uled to last only minutes, less Ones," made in the resolved early on never to
evangelist in modern his- whom he urged to run for stretched to several hours. 1960s, about morally adrift be alone with a woman
tory. office and baptized at the He urged Gerald Ford to teens in Southern California other than his wife.q
"Graham is a major histori- White House. George W. pardon Richard Nixon and
cal figure, not merely to Bush credited Graham with supported Jimmy Carter on
American evangelicals, but helping him transform him- the SALT disarmament trea-
to American Christianity in self from carousing, hard- ty. He stayed at the White
general," said Bill Leonard, drinking oilman to born- House with George H.W.
a professor at Wake Forest again Christian family man. Bush on the eve of the first
University Divinity School in William Franklin Graham Persian Gulf War.
North Carolina. Graham Jr. wasn't always so skilled. His presidential ties proved
was "the closest thing to a After World War II, as an problematic when his close
national Protestant chap- evangelist in the U.S. and friend Nixon resigned in the
lain that the U.S. has ever Europe with Youth for Watergate scandal in 1974,
had." Christ, he was dubbed "the leaving Graham devas-
A tall figure with swept- Preaching Windmill" for his tated, embarrassed and
back hair, blue eyes and a arm-swinging and rapid-fire baffled.
strong jaw, Graham was a speech. Later, tapes released in
commanding presence in His first meeting with a U.S. 2002 caught the preach-