Graham biography

Graham briefly pastored the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, before leaving to join Youth for Christ, an evangelical missionary group that spoke to returning servicemen and young people about God. Inhe resigned from Youth for Christ and focused on Northwestern Schools untilwhen he resigned to concentrate on preaching.

It did not take long for people to identify with Graham's charismatic and heartfelt gospel sermons. When radio personality Stuart Hamblen had Graham on his radio show, word of the revival spread. The publicity filled Graham's tents and extended the revival for an additional five weeks. At the urging of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearstpapers around the nation covered Graham's revival meetings closely.

As a consequence, Graham became a Christian superstar. Sociologically it is believed that Graham's success was directly related to the cultural climate of post-WWII America. Graham spoke out against the evils of Communism—one of the biggest fears threatening the American consciousness. In a interview, Graham stated, "Either communism must die, or Christianity must die, because it is actually a battle between Christ and anti-Christ.

Thus, Graham helped bind together a vulnerable nation through a religious revival. By glazing over the finer details of Christianity and focusing on more moderate doctrines, Graham made evangelism enticing, non-threatening, even easy — and the media made his messages graham biography to the masses. Graham began broadcasting his sermons over the radio during a Christian show called Songs in the Night.

Once a week he also hosted a program called The Hour of Decisiona program ABC initially transmitted to stations before reaching its peak of 1, stations across America. Eventually, this program was graham biography into a television show which ran for three years. The success of Graham's radio and television programs speak to his role as a Christian media visionary.

Graham used the media as a means for spreading the gospel of Christ, allowing him to access millions of people around the globe. With Graham's success, BGEA opened numerous international offices and started publishing periodicals, records, tapes, films and books. In AugustThe New York Times reported that Graham called Biden days after the election in an effort to revive their friendship and told Biden he had called for a special counsel investigation of Biden's son Hunter during the campaign only to appease Trump supporters among his constituents.

A Graham spokesman disputed the Times 's account. Graham appeared at Trump's first prime-time campaign rally on January 28,and told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would support Trump "because I know what I'm going to get", mostly regarding perceived international threats. Tea Party opponents have called Graham a " moderate Republican.

Much of the Tea Party criticism focuses on his willingness to be bipartisan and work with Democrats on issues like climate changetax reform and immigration reform and his belief that judicial nominees should not be opposed solely because of their philosophical positions. We lost. President Obama won. I've got a lot of opportunity to disagree, but the Constitution, in my view, puts an obligation on me not to replace my judgment for his, not to think of the hundred reasons I would pick someone different I view my duty as to protect the Judiciary and to ensure that hard-fought elections have meaning in our system.

I'm going to vote for her [Kagan] because I believe this election has consequences. And this president chose someone who is qualified to serve on this court and understands the difference between being a liberal judge and a politician. At the end of the day, it wasn't a hard decision She would not have been someone I would have chosen, but the person who did choose, President Obama, chose wisely.

Graham graham biography that Supreme Court vacancies should never be filled in a presidential election year [ ] and that "[w]e are setting a precedent today, Republicans are. During the confirmation hearings following Brett Kavanaugh 's nomination to the Supreme Court of the United StatesGraham took a strong stance against letting the process be further delayed by Christine Blasey Ford 's allegations.

Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades earlier when the two were in high school. When Kavanaugh testified before the committee the following day, Graham used his time to speak in Kavanaugh's defense, describing him as a victim who had been put through "hell" by "the most unethical sham" he had seen in his time in politics and that if Kavanaugh was looking for fair process, he had "c[o]me to the wrong town at the wrong time".

InGraham became chair of the Judiciary Committee. You had the president of one party nominating, and you had the Senate in the hands of the other party. A situation where you've got them both would be different. Within a day, Graham expressed support for the Senate immediately voting on Trump's nominee to succeed her. The New York Times called Graham's position "a complete and brazen reversal" of his earlier stance.

During an April 3,appearance on Face the Nation[ ] Graham "suggested that Congress take unspecified though formal action against the Koran - burning by Florida preacher Terry Jones ", in light of an attack on United Nations personnel triggered by Jones's actions. On May 23,Graham was one of the so-called Gang of 14 senators forging a compromise that brought a halt to the continued blockage of an up-or-down vote on judicial nominees.

This compromise negated both the Democrats' use of a filibuster and the Republican " nuclear option ". Under the agreement, the Democrats retained the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and subsequently, three conservative Bush appellate court nominees Janice Rogers BrownPriscilla Owen and William H.

Pryor Jr. In response to the disclosures about the United States National Security Agency and its international partners' global surveillance of foreign nationals and U. He said, "I'm a Verizon customer. I don't mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States.

I don't think you're talking to the terrorists.

Graham biography

I know you're not. I know I'm not. So we don't have anything to worry about. On July 25,the U. In JulyGraham secured the declassification and release of memoranda outlining concerns made by senior military lawyers as early as about the legality of the interrogations of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. You don't get a lawyer. You are an enemy combatant, and we are going to talk to you about why you joined Al Qaeda.

Supreme Court decision allowing detainees to file habeas corpus petitions to challenge their detentions, Graham authored an amendment to a Department of Defense Authorization Act [ ] attempting to clarify the authority of American courts. The amendment passed in November by a vote of 49—42 in the Senate despite opposition from human rights groups and legal scholars who contended that it limited the rights of detainees.

Graham has said he amended the Department of Defense Authorization Act in order to give military lawyers, as opposed to politically appointed lawyers, a more independent role in the oversight of military commanders. He has argued that two of the largest problems graham biography to the detainee abuse scandals at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib were this lack of oversight and troops' confusion over legal boundaries.

Graham added that military lawyers had long observed the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventionbut that the Bush administration had not considered those provisions in decisions about the treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees. He claimed that better legal oversight within the military's chain of command would prevent future detainee abuse.

Rumsfeld case that argued "Congress was aware" that the Detainee Treatment Act of would strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear "pending cases, including this case" brought by Guantanamo detainees. As a nation, we can deal with this. Graham was a supporter of "comprehensive immigration reform", of S. His positions on immigration, and in particular collaborating with Senator Ted Kennedyearned Graham the ire of conservative activists.

In JulyGraham suggested that U. Constitution should be amended, and that any children born to illegal immigrants in the United States should be considered illegal immigrants. In NovemberGraham and Schumer resumed their talks on comprehensive immigration reform. In MayGraham proposed instituting new immigration laws that would only allow migrants to apply for asylum from their home country or Mexico, smooth the process to deport unaccompanied children to Central America, and extend the period by which migrant children could be detained from 20 days to days.

In JulyGraham visited a migrant detention center in Texas. He reacted that it was not "a concentration camp" but "a facility overwhelmed". Of the migrants, Graham said, "I don't care if they have to stay in these facilities for days. We're not going to let those men go that I saw. It would be dangerous. In MayGraham voted against legislation that would have overturned the FCC's ruling [ clarification needed ] and restored net neutrality.

In MarchGraham voted for the Broadband Consumer Privacy Proposal that removed the FCC's internet privacy rules and allowed internet service providers to sell customers' browsing history without their permission. In FebruaryGraham and Richard Blumenthal introduced bipartisan legislation, as part of the EARN IT Actto incentivize tech companies to remove child sexual abuse material CSAM from their platforms and remove blanket immunity for violations of laws related to online child pornography.

Graham opposes extending background checks. Bushbut was later able to pass a background check and buy a gun. It did not address the gun show loophole. InGraham became one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which included a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases.

The amendment would have given states permission to remove protections for individuals with preexisting conditionssuch as allowing insurers to charge them higher prices for insurance. Graham is a cosponsor of the Healthy Americans Act. Graham criticized Senator Rand Paul after Paul said, "I've heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.

As to freedom, it is cherished, it is hard to come by, it is hard to hang on to. But freedom without responsibility is chaos, so to those who push the idea that freedom would allow an individual to do anything, anywhere, at any time, I reject. Your freedom ends where my ability to raise my family safely begins. So I would urge every American to vaccinate their children and I would reject any effort to stop vaccinations until someone can show me a scientific reason to do so.

InGraham sponsored the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the Senate, which bans abortion after 20 weeks of gestation on a national basis, with some exceptions to save the life of the mother, or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Wade is precedent that should not be overturned without good reason. In MayGraham advocated that the Supreme Court overturn Roe to ensure that "every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms", as this would be "the most constitutionally sound way of dealing with this issue and the way the United States handled the issue until Despite previously saying that abortion should be left up to the states, in September Graham introduced legislation to institute a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the patient.

This is a human right issue I am going to advocate a national minimum standard. InGraham voted for the Defense of Marriage Act[ ] which became federal law that year; it defined marriage as between one man and one woman, and enacted non-recognition of same-sex marriages at the federal level. Graham voted to support a constitutional amendment opposing marriage between same-sex couples in He said, "I believe in the traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Traditional marriage is an institution worth protecting and this amendment will accomplish that goal. A constitutional amendment is the only effective way to cut off the growing trend among judges to create a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. HodgesGraham said that although he disagreed with the ruling, he no longer believed that a constitutional amendment was a viable action on the issue.

In Augustafter the House of Representatives approved a bill to recognize same-sex marriages at the federal level and that bill was sent to the Senate, Graham said that "states should decide the issue of marriage [ On December 10,Graham and senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman co-sponsored a letter to President Obama announcing their commitment to passing a climate change bill and outlining its framework.

Graham's withdrawal of support left passage of the climate change bill in doubt. In JuneGraham told reporters, "The science about global warming has changed. I think they've oversold this stuff, quite frankly. I think they've been alarmist and the science is in question. The whole movement has taken a giant step backward. InGraham sponsored the Growing Climate Solutions Act, a bill that would make it simpler for farmers to sell carbon credits on existing carbon trading markets in California and in the Northeast.

Endorsed by the Sierra Clubthe bill S. Graham supports an interventionist foreign policy. Their influence reached its zenith in as President Bush advocated for his surge strategy in Iraq, declining shortly before Lieberman retired from the Senate in Graham was a frequent critic of the foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration.

He threatened to derail the confirmation of Obama's nominee for secretary of defense, Republican former senator Chuck Hagela centrist. On February 28,Graham criticized Obama and both political parties on the Senate floor for allowing the budget reduction to occur with "two-thirds of the budget" exempt from reductions and said the impact on the Department of Defense would create a "hollow military" that "invites aggression".

Graham suggested that the U. Graham vehemently opposed Joe Biden 's plan to withdraw all U. He suggested that this plan puts the U. On November 6,Graham called for a preemptive military strike to weaken the Iranian regime. Co-host Brian Kilmeade responded, "Well, they have great people, just bad leaders," which Graham confirmed. During the Israel—Hamas warGraham called for the U.

He also said that the U. In DecemberGraham was one of 26 senators to vote against the ratification of New Start[ ] a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years. In AugustGraham co-sponsored a resolution that contended that "Russia's invasion of Georgian land in was an act of aggression, not only to Georgia but to all new democracies.

On July 16,Graham suggested the United States should consider boycotting the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russiabecause of "what the Russian government is doing throughout the world". On March 3,in response to the Russian invasion of UkraineGraham tweeted, "The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out", referring to Vladimir Putin.

The tweet, which was viewed as suggesting that a Russian resident should assassinate Putin, drew backlash from American politicians, who condemned the idea and proposed heavier sanctions instead. On May 26,the Office of the President of Ukraine released an edited video showing Graham talking to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and remarking that "the Russians are dying", followed by a comment that the American military assistance to Ukraine was the "best money we've ever spent".

The Office of the president of Ukraine later released the unedited version of the interview, clarifying that Graham's two remarks were unrelated. On May 29,the Russian Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Graham for his comments about the war. In response, Graham tweeted that the news brought him "immense joy" and that he would "wear the arrest warrant issued by Putin's corrupt and immoral government as a Badge of Honor".

On January 5,Graham condemned Obama for abstaining from UN Security Council Resolutionwhich condemned Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem as a violation of international law. On March 11,Graham said he would encourage the Trump administration to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel. On October 10,Graham tweeted that he "unapologetically stand[s] with Israel" during the Israel—Hamas war.

On March 9,Graham said, "For decades now, Palestinian children have been taught through UNRWA and other agencies to kill all the Jews" and "somebody needs to pull the Palestinian school system up by its roots and destroy it. On May 8,Graham warned the Pentagon against halting arms supply to Israel during the Israel—Hamas warsaying, "Give Israel what they need to fight the war they can't afford to lose.

This is Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids. Embassy in Japan that said: "This statement is also in violation of international humanitarian law. With the Nuclear Weapons Convention now in effect, it can only be called an anachronistic and malicious delusion". On May 10, Graham said that he trusts Israel more than he does U. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

On May 11, Graham and 11 other Republican senators introduced a resolution condemning the Biden administration's actions to withhold or restrict ammunition and weapons to Israel. They can't afford to lose. On May 20, in response to ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's announcement of his intention to seek arrest warrants of senior Israeli officials in connection to war crimes committed in the Israel—Hamas warGraham called for sanctions to be placed on the ICC [ ] and said: "This outrageous decision is truly a slap in the face to the independent judiciary of Israel, which is renowned for their independence.

On July 5, Graham said, "The Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalized population on the planet, who are taught to hate Jews from birth". In Octoberin the wake of the Tongo Tongo ambushwhich killed four U. They're a strategic partner. They're a mortal enemy of the Iranians. He praised the Trump administration for sending thousands of additional troops to Saudi Arabia to counter Iran's threat.

In NovemberGraham blocked a Senate resolution to officially recognize the Armenian genocide. In Januaryand in the first known congressional criminal referral in the investigation into Russian interference in the election, Graham and Chuck Grassley recommended charges against ex- MI6 officer Christopher Steelenamed as author of the Steele dossier.

Steele already. The circumstances under which Mr. Steele is alleged to have lied were unclear, as much of the referral was classified. If not, the special counsel would be reinstated. At the same time, according to The Hillthe bill would "codify regulations" that a special counsel could only be fired by a senior Justice Department official, having to provide reasons in writing.

On March 14,Graham blocked a resolution calling for Mueller's report to be made public after it passed the House unanimously. After Mueller's testimony to two congressional committees on July 24,Graham speculated that "the Mueller report is in name only. It clearly wasn't the Mueller report. It was just in name. He made everybody available to Mueller that Mueller wanted to talk to, and he Although Graham signed Grover Norquist 's Taxpayer Protection Pledge in Junehe went on record supporting the closure of tax loopholes without compensating decreases in other tax revenue, saying, "We're so far in debt that if you don't give up some ideological ground, the country sinks.

House and U. Senate tenure, as having a mostly protectionist and pro- subsidies voting record. After a mass shooting at a historic African American church in Charleston on June 17,Graham canceled all campaign events to return to South Carolina. In response to questions from the press regarding the calls from some to remove the Confederate flag at a war memorial on the South Carolina State Capitol grounds, Graham said, "Well, at the end of the day it's time for people in South Carolina to revisit that decision.

To others it's a racist symbol, and it's been used by people—it's been used in a racist way. It's him In a statement issued later, Graham said, "There can be no doubt that the shooting This murderer said he wanted to start a race war ; he has failed miserably. In Charleston this weekend, I saw a community coming together. I saw people seeking solace in what they share together, not in what makes them different.

Graham was among the 31 Senate Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of InThe Boston Globe reported that Graham was "the only Republican recipient of money from a major Democratic donor now facing scrutiny for some questionable campaign donation habits. The Boston Globe found that the firm, in almost every case, would reimburse partners' political contributions—in the exact amount [ ] —within 10 days of the contributions being made.

The firm told reporters that according to outside consultants the practice was not unlawful because the checks are not bonuses, instead coming out of the partners' firm equity accounts. A spokesman for Graham said that Graham would return the money he received from the firm's lawyers if the law firm were indicted or convicted on corruption charges.

Graham supported John McCain for president in and served as national co-chair of McCain's presidential campaign. InGraham's endorsement was highly sought, [ ] but he declined to endorse a Republican candidate before the January South Carolina Republican primary. During his Senate reelection race in Octoberwhile discussing immigration and foreign policy issues with a reporter from The Weekly StandardGraham said, "If I get through my general election, if nobody steps up in the presidential mix, if nobody's out there talking I may just jump in to get to make these arguments.

I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to. Graham announced his candidacy for President on June 1, On December 21,Graham suspended his presidential campaign, due to lack of support and poor polling, and on January 15,endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Klein received 1, votes and write-ins received 33 votes.

Graham helped raise his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, after the deaths of his mother and father, which occurred within 15 months of each other, [ ] leaving the two without parents when Graham was 22 and she was Graham has said that his parents' early deaths made him mature more quickly, and Nordone, who introduced her brother at his announcement of his candidacy for president, said she hoped to be with him on the campaign trail frequently to show voters his softer side.

Having never married or had children, [ 12 ] Graham has said, "I never found time to meet the right girl, or the right girl was smart enough not to have time for me. Graham lives in Seneca, South Carolina. Contents move to sidebar hide. House of Representatives. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. American lawyer and politician born Serving with Tim Scott. Senate website Campaign website. Graham Greene, an Introduction to His Writings. United States: Jossey-Bass. Archived from the original on 22 February Retrieved 2 June Encyclopedia of British Writers, to the Present. Retrieved 28 January Berkhamsted Town Council. Archived from the original PDF on 27 September The Times.

London: Jonathan Cape. Retrieved 11 March The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August The Observer. Graham Greene's Catholic Imagination. Oxford University Press. The Charnel-House. Retrieved 4 December The Spectator. The Independent. Chicago Review Press. In Poole, A. The Cambridge Companion to English Novelists. Cambridge Companions to Literature.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. The Guardian. United States: Random House. Retrieved 30 December Understanding Graham Greene. Graham Greene's Conradian Masterplot. Suffolk: MacMillan Press. The Guardian10 February Retrieved 16 April First Things. BBC News. Graham Greene: Fictions, Faith and Authorship. Bloomsbury Publishing. The New York Times.

Retrieved 16 May Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 15 May History Today Volume: 60 Issue: Retrieved 20 March Introduction to The Comedians. Random House. Peter Owen. A Burnt-Out Case. New York Amer. The Escape Room. Garden City, New York : Doubleday. Washington Post. Graham Greene: A Life in Letters. Retrieved 7 January Introduction by John Updikep.

The Third Spring: G. CUA Press. Archived from the original on 11 January Archived from the original on 17 May Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 October Retrieved 23 August New York Times Magazine. New York. London: Books. Retrieved 13 September Retrieved 21 December Archived from the original on 20 November Archived from the original on 11 November He can use it mightily.

Reverend Billy Graham Memorial Park was later established on the Hillsborough Riverdirectly east of the 18th green and across from where Graham often paddled a canoe to a small island in the river, where he would practice preaching to the birds, alligators, and cypress stumps. Graham then enrolled in Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

During his time there, he decided to accept the Bible as the infallible word of God. After that, the congregation repeatedly asked Graham to preach at their church and later asked him to become the pastor of their church. After Graham prayed and sought advice from his friend Dr. Edman, Graham become their church's pastor. In JuneGraham graduated from Wheaton College [ 35 ] with a degree in anthropology.

While there, his friend Torrey Johnson, pastor of the Midwest Bible Church in Chicago, told Graham that his radio program, Songs in the Nightwas about to be canceled due to lack of funding. Consulting with the members of his church in Western Springs, Graham decided to take over Johnson's program with financial support from his congregation. Launching the new radio program on January 2,still called Songs in the NightGraham recruited the bass-baritone George Beverly Shea as his director of radio ministry.

Inin a Modesto, California hotel room, Graham and his evangelistic team established the Modesto Manifesto : a code of ethics for life and work to protect against accusations of financial, sexual, and power abuse. Graham was 29 when he became president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis in He was the youngest president of a college or university in the country, and held the position for four years before he resigned in Templeton applied to Princeton Theological Seminary for an advanced theological degree and urged Graham to do so as well, but he declined as he was already serving as the president of Northwestern Bible College.

He would preach the gospel and invite individuals to come forward a practice begun by Dwight L. Moody ; such people were called "inquirers" and were given the chance to speak one-on-one with a counselor to clarify questions and pray together. The inquirers were often given a copy of the Gospel of John or a Bible study booklet. InGraham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angelesfor which he erected circus tents in a parking lot.

Graham became a national figure, with heavy coverage from the wire services and national magazines. At a rally, attended bypeople, in DurbanSouth Africa—the first large mixed-race event in apartheid South Africa—Graham openly declared that "apartheid is a sin". By the time of his last crusade in in New York City, he had preached live crusades, including in the US and abroad.

Graham spoke at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Urbana Student Missions Conference at least nine times — in,, and At each Urbana conference, he challenged the thousands of attendees to make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. He often quoted a six-word phrase that was reportedly written in the Bible of William Whiting Bordenthe son of a wealthy silver magnate: "No reserves, no retreat, no regrets".

Graham also held evangelistic meetings on a number of college campuses: at the University of Minnesota during InterVarsity's "Year of Evangelism" in —51, a 4-day mission at Yale University inand a week-long series of meetings at the University of North Carolina's Carmichael Auditorium in September Inhe was invited by Cambridge University students to lead the mission at the university; the mission was arranged by the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Unionwith London pastor-theologian John Stott serving as Graham's chief assistant.

This invitation was greeted with much disapproval in the correspondence columns of The Times. The association relocated to Charlotte, North Carolinain[ 60 ] and maintains a number of international offices, such as in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires. It encouraged church members to spread the gospel in small group meetings, after showing a video message by Graham.

Graham's early crusades were segregatedbut he began adjusting his approach in the s. In his memoirs, he recounted that he told two ushers to leave the barriers down "or you can go on and have the revival without me. They are rising all over the world. We have been proud and thought we were better than any other race, any other people.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that we are going to stumble into hell because of our pride. InGraham's stance towards integration became more publicly shown when he allowed black ministers Thomas Kilgore and Gardner C. Taylor to serve as members of his New York Crusade's executive committee. Despite their friendship, tensions between Graham and King emerged inwhen the sponsoring committee of a crusade that took place in San AntonioTexas, on July 25 arranged for Graham to be introduced by that state's segregationist governor, Price Daniel.

Graham's faith prompted his maturing view of race and segregation. He told a member of the Ku Klux Klan that integration was necessary, primarily for religious reasons. The friendship between Graham and John Stott led to a further partnership in the Lausanne Movementof which Graham was a founder. Women were represented by Millie Dienertwho chaired the prayer committee.

Its purpose was to strengthen the global church for world evangelization, and to engage ideological and sociological trends which bore on this. Graham played multiple roles that reinforced each other. Graham deliberately reached into the secular world as a bridge builder. For example, as an entrepreneur he built his own pavilion for the New York World's Fair.

During his first crusade there inhe openly denounced apartheid. Inhe led a series of summer meetings—Mission England—in the United Kingdom, and he used outdoor football soccer fields for his venues. Graham was interested in fostering evangelism around the world. Inand he sponsored, organized and paid for massive training conferences for Christian evangelists; this was, at the time, the largest representation of nations ever held.

At one revival in SeoulSouth Korea, Graham attracted more than one million people to a single service. He appeared in North Korea in He was the only person functioning as a minister who received a star in that capacity. City officials estimated that more thanwere in attendance. InGraham spoke to a crowd of scientists and philosophers at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference.

Bush and past and present leaders. He also spoke at the memorial service following the Oklahoma City bombing in The festival was held in New Orleanswhich was recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Graham prepared one last sermon, "My Hope America", which was released on DVD and played around America and possibly worldwide between November 7—10, November 7 was Graham's 95th birthday, and he hoped to cause a revival.

Graham said that his planned retirement was a result of his failing health; he had suffered from hydrocephalus from on. Then 86, he used a walker during the ceremony. In AprilGraham was 91 and experiencing substantial vision, hearing, and balance loss when he made a rare public appearance at the re-dedication of the renovated Billy Graham Library.

There was controversy within his family over Graham's proposed burial place. He announced in June that he and his wife would be buried alongside each other at the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte. Graham's younger son Ned argued with older son Franklin about whether burial at a library would be appropriate. Ruth Graham had said that she wanted to be buried in the mountains at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove near Asheville, North Carolinawhere she had lived for many years; Ned supported his mother's choice.

Franklin wanted his parents to be buried at the library site. Inwhen asked if he would have done things differently, he said he would have spent more time at home with his family, studied more, and preached less. He also said he had a habit of advising evangelists to save their time and avoid having too many commitments. After his close relationships with Lyndon B.

Johnson and Richard NixonGraham tried to avoid explicit partisanship. Bailey says: "He declined to sign or endorse political statements, and he distanced himself from the Christian right His early years of fierce opposition to communism gave way to pleas for military disarmament and attention to AIDS, poverty and environmental threats.

Graham was a lifelong registered member of the Democratic Party. Kennedyfearing that Kennedy, as a Catholic, would be bound to follow the Pope. Graham worked "behind the scenes" to encourage influential Protestant ministers to speak out against Kennedy. After his election, Kennedy invited Graham to play golf in Palm Beach, Floridaafter which Graham acknowledged Kennedy's election as an opportunity for Catholics and Protestants to come closer together.

Graham opposed the large majority of abortions, but supported it as a legal option in a very narrow range of circumstances: rape, incestand the life of the mother. Graham leaned toward the Republicans during the presidency of Richard Nixon, whom he had met and befriended as vice president under Dwight D. InGraham explained his refusal to join Jerry Falwell 's Moral Majority insaying: "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice.

We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle to preach to all people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future. According to a Newsweek interview, "For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel When Newsweek asked Graham whether ministers — whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both — should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: 'You know, I think in a way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord.

A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I'm sure, but I think you have some — like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out. Inalthough grateful to have met politicians who have spiritual needs like everyone else, he said he sometimes crossed the line and would have preferred to avoid politics.

InGraham endorsed the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Franklin denied this, and said that he would continue to act as his father's spokesperson rather than allowing press conferences. Graham had a personal audience with many sitting US presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama — 12 consecutive presidents. After meeting with Truman inGraham told the press he had urged the president to counter communism in North Korea.

Truman disliked him and did not speak with him for years after that meeting. Truman made his contempt for Graham public. He wrote about Graham in his autobiography Plain Speaking : "But now we've got just this one evangelist, this Billy Graham, and he's gone off the beam. He claims he's a friend of all the presidents, but he was never a friend of mine when I was President.

I just don't go for people like that. All he's interested in is getting his name in the paper. Graham became a regular visitor during the tenure of Dwight D. He purportedly urged him to intervene with federal troops in the case of the Little Rock Nine to gain admission of black students to public schools. Graham met and became a close friend of Vice President Richard Nixon, [ ] [ ] and supported Nixon, a Quakerfor the presidential election.

On December 16,U. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was impressed by the way Graham had praised the work of his great-grandfather, George Washington Bainesinvited Graham to the White House to receive spiritual counseling. After this visit, Johnson frequently called on Graham for more spiritual counseling as well as companionship. He was graham biography trying to keep me there.

He just never wanted me to leave. In contrast with his more limited access with Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, Graham would not only visit the White House private quarters but would also at times kneel at Johnson's bedside and pray with him whenever the President requested him to do so. Graham once recalled "I have never had many people do that.

Johnson was also the first sitting president to attend one of Graham's crusades, in Houston, Texas, in During the United States presidential election, supporters of Republican nominee Barry Goldwater sent an estimated 2 million telegrams to Graham's hometown of Montreat, North Carolinaand sought the preacher's endorsement. Supportive of Johnson's domestic policies, and hoping to preserve his friendship with the president, Graham resisted pressure to endorse Goldwater and stayed neutral in the election.

Following Johnson's election victory, Graham's role as the main White House pastor was solidified. At one point, Johnson even considered making Graham a member of his cabinet and grooming him to be his successor, though Graham insisted he had no political ambitions and wished to remain a preacher. He spent the last night of Johnson's presidency in the White House, and he stayed for the first night of Nixon's.

InNixon appeared at a Graham revival in East Tennesseewhich they thought safe politically. It drew one of the largest crowds in Tennessee of protesters against the Vietnam War. Nixon was the first president to give a speech from an evangelist's platform. Graham officiated at one presidential burial and one presidential funeral. He presided over the graveside services of President Lyndon B.

Johnson in and took part in eulogizing the former president. Graham officiated at the graham biography services of former First Lady Pat Nixon in[ 23 ] and the death and state funeral of Richard Nixon in Bush in his eulogy. Graham had a friendly relationship with Queen Elizabeth II and was frequently invited by the Royal Family to special events.

Their friendly relationship may have been because they shared a traditional approach to the practical aspects of the Christian faith. Graham was outspoken against communism and supported the American Cold War policy, including the Vietnam War. In a secret letter from April 15,made public twenty years later, Graham encouraged Nixon to bomb the dikes in North Vietnam if the peace talks in Paris should fail.

This action would "destroy the economy of North Vietnam" and, by Nixon's estimate, would have killed a million people. InGraham preached in the Soviet Union and attended a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the war dead of World War IIwhen the Soviets were American allies in the fight against Nazism. He voiced fear of a second holocaust, not against Jews, but "a nuclear holocaust " and advised that "our greatest contribution to world peace is to live with Christ every day.

In a speech, Graham discussed his relationship with the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sungpraising him as a "different kind of communist" and "one of the great fighters for freedom in his country against the Japanese ". Graham went on to note that although he had never met Kim's son and then-current North Korean leader Kim Jong Ilhe had "exchanged gifts with him".

During the Watergate affair, there were suggestions that Graham had expressed antisemitic opinions in private discussions with Richard Nixon; he denied this, stressing his efforts to build bridges to the Jewish community. Inthe controversy was renewed when declassified " Richard Nixon tapes " confirmed remarks made by Graham to Nixon three decades earlier.

When the tapes were made public, Graham apologized [ ] [ ] and said, "Although I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently made in an Oval Office conversation with President Nixon They do not reflect my views and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks. Inmore Nixon tapes were released, in which Graham is heard in a conversation with Nixon referring to a group of Jewish journalists as "the synagogue of Satan ".

A spokesman for Graham said that Graham has never been an antisemite and that the comparison in accord with the context of the quotation in the Book of Revelation [ ] was directed specifically at those claiming to be Jews, but not holding to traditional Jewish values. After a crusade in New York, some more fundamentalist Protestant Christians criticized Graham for his ecumenismeven calling him " Antichrist ".

Graham expressed inclusivist views, suggesting that people without explicit faith in Jesus can be saved. In a interview with Robert SchullerGraham said:. I think that everybody that loves or knows Christ, whether they are conscious of it or not, they are members of the body of Christ They may not know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something they do not have, and they turn to the only light they have, and I think that they are saved and they are going to be with us in heaven.

Iain Murraywriting from a conservative Protestant standpoint, argues that "Graham's concessions are sad words from one who once spoke on the basis of biblical certainties. InGraham stated that feminism was "an echo of our overall philosophy of permissiveness" and that women did not want to be "competitive juggernauts pitted against male chauvinists".

Graham's assertions, published in the Ladies' Home Journalelicited letters of protest, and were offered as rebuttal to the establishment of "The New Feminism" section of the publication that had added following a sit-in protest at the Journal offices demanding female representation on the staff of the publication. Graham's daughter Bunny recounted her father denying her and her sisters higher education.

As reported in The Washington Post : [ ]. Bunny remembers being groomed for the life of wife, homemaker, and mother.