A Prophet with Honor

by William C. Martin

  To imagine, however, that writing a few checks cancels any debt I might owe to Billy Graham and his organization would be legalistic and naive. I would not try, or even begin to know how, to pay for the favors, assistance, goodwill, and gracious treatment I have received from numerous individuals, only some of whom are named below. They knew, of course, that I would write about Mr. Graham and his organization and that treating me kindly and well would enhance the likelihood that I would speak of them favorably. But I want to believe and do believe that they treated me kindly and well because they tend to be, as a group, remarkably kind and well-meaning people. As I have written this book, I have constantly examined what I have said in an effort to make sure that I was neither shading the truth in Graham’s or his associates’ favor out of gratitude for their helpfulness, nor taking an inappropriately negative slant as a way of emphasizing that I had not been taken in by slick manipulation. Admittedly, I enjoyed writing about their strengths more than about their weaknesses. But since Billy Graham and his associates, like all humankind, have weaknesses, I determined not to gloss these over. I have tried to be scrupulously fair, not only because I do not wish the taint of unfairness to mar the most notable scholarly enterprise in which I have engaged to date but also because I regard fairness as a cardinal virtue. I do not imagine, of course, that my judgment is flawless. I am certain it is not. But the account and the assessments I have rendered here have been given with great care.

  My debts, as I have indicated, are many and substantial. I owe early and long appreciation to Dr. Kenneth Chafin, former pastor of Houston’s South Main Baptist Church and former dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism. At our first meeting in 1974, when I was interviewing him about a different subject, Dr. Chafin half-seriously suggested that I consider writing a biography of Billy Graham. A year later, he invited me to spend several days at a crusade in Jackson, Mississippi. That visit led to the Texas Monthly article, which led to the invitation to write this book. I haven’t talked to Ken Chafin much since he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, but I haven’t forgotten him.

  T. W. Wilson, Graham’s personal assistant and traveling companion, repeatedly went to extra lengths to help coordinate my visits with Graham, to provide entree to interviewees and access to materials, and to supply me with various other kinds of information. It was easy to understand why Billy Graham has come to rely upon him so heavily and to relish his company.

  Cliff Barrows, even while recovering from a life-threatening illness, spent several days reviewing films of Graham’s early ministry and sharing observations and insights gleaned during an adult lifetime spent at Billy Graham’s side as his music director and vice-chairman of BGEA.

  George Wilson and John Corts, former and present chief of operations of BGEA, gave me broad access to the association’s facilities and staff, and graciously met any need I expressed.

  Sterling Huston, director of North American Crusades, saw to it that I got every piece of information I requested about Graham’s crusade operations and enabled me to get a worm’s-eye view of crusades in progress.

  Maurice Rowlandson, director of BGEA’s London office, shared his extensive knowledge of Graham’s ministry in Great Britain, arranged interviews with key church leaders in England, and, with his wife, Marilyn, offered gracious personal hospitality and other kind assistance on several occasions.

  Dr. Alexander S. Haraszti was a meticulously inventoried storehouse of detailed information about Graham’s visits to the Soviet bloc countries. Dr. John Akers and Edward E. Plowman supplemented his accounts with their own observations and insights. Both these men also offered candid and astute reflections on other aspects of Graham’s organization and ministry.

  Bob Williams gave hours of his time, even when swamped with responsibility, to help me gain a better understanding of the International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists and the saturation evangelism effort known as Mission World.

  Russ Busby, BGEA’s photographer, recorded hundreds of scenes that enabled me to picture exactly how an event looked, recommended several photos for use in this book, and furnished a stack of verbal snapshots that no camera could capture.

  I am indebted, of course, to every person I interviewed. I hope each of them, including those not mentioned in the footnotes, will accept as sufficient my blanket expression of gratitude. Some, however, stand out for their willingness to engage in repeated conversations, for their assistance in providing access to other people, and for myriad other thoughtful deeds. I think especially of Dr. Akbar Abdul-Haqq, Gerald Beavan, Ralph Bell, Bill Brown, Dr. David Bruce, Blair Carlson, Elwyn Cutler, J. D. Douglas, Fred Durston, Allan Emery, Jr., Colleen Townsend Evans, Dr. Robert Evans, Roger Flessing, Leighton Ford, Ernest Gibson, Melvin Graham, Roy Gustafson, Henry Holley, Mike Hooser, Dr. Arthur P. Johnston, Howard Jones, Johnny Lenning, Dr. Robert L. Maddox, Dr. Victor Nelson, Roger Palms, Dr. Tom Phillips, Texas E. Reardon, Charles Riggs, Tedd Smith, Walter Smyth, Charles Templeton, Dr. Calvin Thielman, Bill Weldon, Dr. John Wesley White, Ralph Williams, and Grady Wilson.

  My research efforts were wonderfully extended by a competent corps of co-workers. None was more valuable than my prize daughter, Dale Martin Thomas, who worked at my side for two summers and made further valuable contributions by writing her senior thesis at Yale on the conflict between Billy Graham and the Fundamentalists, and whose research for that project is reflected in Chapter 13. She also enlisted her friend and classmate, Jim Ford, who provided me with information about Graham’s visits to Yale in 1957 and 1982. Alongside her in importance is Jane Washburn Robinson, whose enterprising, painstakingly thorough, and expertly organized and documented research provided the basis for the chapters on the relationship between Graham and Richard Nixon. Though she was able to assist me for only one summer, and most of that via computer modem, Christiane Pratsch also proved to be as able a second set of hands, eyes, and mind as one could hope for. And during the final push to get all the footnotes correct, Shay Gregory displayed remarkable diligence, ingenuity and cheerfulness as she hunted down every straggler who lacked a proper name or identifying mark.

  The bulk of my archival research was done at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. The extensive and well-ordered collection at the center’s archives is a priceless resource for students not only of Billy Graham’s ministry but also of other facets of Evangelical Christianity. Archives Director Robert Shuster and his associates, Lannae Graham, Frances Brocker, Paul Ericksen, and Jan Nasgowitz could not have been more helpful or gracious during the several weeks I spent in their midst. I received similar assistance from the center’s library director, Feme Weimer, and her co-worker, Judy Franzke. As already noted, my work at the archives was greatly facilitated by the good offices of Dr. Lois Ferm, who was at pains to see to it that I had access to every piece of material that was legally possible for me to see. She was also helpful in suggesting places to look. In addition, my candid conversations with her and her husband, Dr. Robert Ferm, associated with Billy Graham for over forty years, provided many valuable insights.

  One of the most valuable sources of assistance was the staff of Walter Bennett Communications, which has long handled public relations and media operations for the Graham ministry. Fred and Ted Dienert gave me open access to backstage operations of the television productions. Larry Ross repeatedly shared his time and insights into Billy Graham’s phenomenal success in gaining the confidence of the world’s media. And Noel Wilkerson Lee, again and again and again, found and sent videotapes, transcripts, press releases, and whatever other materials I requested, all in good time and good humor.

  Sarah Clemmer of the Charlotte Observer also smoothed my way to effective research in that newspaper’s extensive files on Graham.

  As with virtually any historical project, I have depended upon the work of those who have plowed the ground before me. Earlier biographies, particularly those by John Pollock, William McLoughlin, Marshall Frady, and Patricia Daniels Cornwell, have been helpfu
l for their insights and for guiding me to materials I might otherwise have found less easily or missed altogether. In addition, I have benefited from the work of numerous journalists who have written books and thousands of articles about Billy Graham. I have given credit for every known debt in the footnotes, but I take this opportunity to pay additional thanks to them all.

  From the beginning, secretaries have played crucial roles. Billy Graham and his colleagues are blessed—I have no more hesitation to use the word than they—with a phalanx of extraordinarily able and unfailingly helpful assistants. Stephanie Wills served as lifeline to Billy Graham himself, relaying queries accurately, dispatching all sorts of materials immediately, and giving information and advice that was invariably on target and often delivered with a wry sense of humor. Cathy Wood, secretary to Sterling Huston, not only provided me with abundant assistance at and regarding crusades and other aspects of the ministry but repeatedly did so in the midst of hectic workdays that lasted at least fifteen hours. During the several weeks I spent in Amsterdam in 1986, Susan Cherian, Bob Williams’s secretary, offered similar help with equal good cheer. Belma Reimers was especially helpful in arranging my meetings with Cliff Barrows and Johnny Lenning. Ruth Graham’s secretary, Maury Scobee, helped me several times with appointments and travel arrangements and proved to be a delightful friend as well. I had only limited personal contact with Mary Becker in BGEA’s Minneapolis office, but I was regularly grateful to her for faithfully sending me a full set of newly updated statistics every few weeks during the entire five years. And George Wilson’s longtime assistant, Esther LaDow, managed to find copies of almost any obscure publication or document I felt I needed. In addition, and absolutely without exception, numerous other secretaries at various levels within BGEA, in both the Montreat and Minneapolis offices, rendered friendly and competent assistance whenever they had opportunity. I am deeply grateful.

  On the home front, my several computers, whose value has been incalculable, made it unnecessary for me to rely heavily on the official skills of university secretaries in the actual research and preparation of the manuscript. Still, the friendship, forbearance, load-lifting good humor, and able assistance on other fronts consistently furnished by Kathy Koch, Crystalyn Williams, Nancy Dahlberg, and Rita Loucks during years of single-minded pursuit of a goal and absentminded loss (usually temporary) of essential items have been a source of comfort.

  I can scarcely imagine how I could have written this book had I not been able to spend eighteen months in practical isolation in comfortable dwellings graciously made available to me by thoughtful and generous people. Loise H. Wessendorff’s picturesque and peaceful retreat center, Wellspring, not only provided much-needed solitude during the early stages of the writing but rekindled a deep affection for the Texas Hill Country. The roar of the ocean at Lamar and Penny Vieau’s Seabean helped drown my inner moanings during the wintriest period of the entire project. The delightful nineteenth-century farmhouse at Pecan Mill, from whose windows I could watch champion cutting horses grazing in the fields, gave me a marvelous place to work and, just as important, enabled me to renew my ties with my cousins, Mike, Jerry, and Bill McLennan. And the magnificent view of the mountains from the window of the study in Steven and Sandra Rudy’s charming cottage in Crested Butte, Colorado, made it easy to get through the final revisions and copyediting. I expect to write my next book at a place called Canaan, not far from Wellspring. All these will be welcome there.

  My several visits to Wheaton were made immeasurably more pleasant by Bill, Donna, Bruce, and Vicky Bond, who welcomed a stranger into their home and made him feel a part of their family. And my sojourn in Paris, a delightful assignment in itself, was enhanced by the hospitality and companionship of Spencer and Marlene Hays and Herve Odermatt.

  For more than twenty years, I have enjoyed an unusual degree of support and encouragement from my colleagues on the faculty and in the administration of Rice University. With scarcely a murmur of discontent, my dear friends in the Department of Sociology—Chandler Davidson, Chad Gordon, Stephen Klineberg, Elizabeth Long, and Angela Valenzuela—my two deans, Joseph Cooper and James Pomerantz, and George Rupp, president of Rice University, agreed to my taking a two-and-a-half-year leave to work on this book. I do not take such an environment for granted.

  The folks at William Morrow showed great confidence in this book, making it possible for me both to take time away from my teaching and to afford the research I needed to perform. I commend them for their generosity, thank them for their patience, and hope their judgment will be vindicated. I am also grateful to their counterparts at other publishing houses, particularly at Macmillan/Free Press and Houghton Mifflin/Ticknor and Fields, who helped convince them that a book about Billy Graham would have wide appeal.

  Many people at a publishing house are involved in the production of a book, but none more intimately than the editor. My editor, Maria Guarnaschelli, is a remarkable woman. When we first met, I was overwhelmed by her enthusiasm for the book. In the intervening years, I have been repeatedly overwhelmed by her capacity to demonstrate a range and intensity of emotion that exceed my own to a noticeable degree. Maria not only possesses superb technical skills as an editor; she also has two other gifts that make her a valuable collaborator: the ability to teach and the ability to learn, gifts that enabled me to find and to write the book I wanted to write. Two freelance editors also gave good assistance. After reading the first version of the manuscript, Joy Parker furnished thirty pages of thoughtful analysis and encouragement that proved extremely helpful, and Ellen Joseph helped pare that first version to a more manageable size. And finally, copy editor Michael Goodman patiently checked facts, spotted typographical errors and inconsistencies, and brought the manuscript into line with William Morrow’s stylistic conventions.

  Gerry McCauley has been my literary agent for twenty years. We have been friends throughout that period, but never have I valued the friendship so highly as during these past five years. From his wise and effective assistance in helping arrange for the original contract, through regular telephone calls to calm my fears and assure me that all books were difficult and that many authors actually finish them, to reading and commenting on various drafts of the manuscript itself, he demonstrated a care and concern that went far beyond a mere professional relationship. And now, perhaps, we can talk about baseball without being distracted.

  My wife, Patricia, has been her dependably wonderful self throughout this long process. When it became clear that the only way to get the book written was to retreat from the city, she bore my long absences with un complaining grace, brightened my weekends with her warm and cheerful presence, gave and resisted giving criticism in just the proper proportion, and appeared never to doubt that I could and would eventually finish. My sons, Rex and Jeff, their wives, Mary and Suzanne, and my son-in-law, Rupert Thomas, were less directly involved, but they supported me with their encouragement and love, as did my longtime friends David Berg, John Boles, Sidney and Mary Lee Burrus, Allen Matusow, and Richard and Michael Parten.

  I understand that I am a fortunate man.

  WILLIAM MARTIN

  Part 1

  Genesis

  1

  Mr. Graham Goes to Washington

  Billy Graham arrived at precisely the right moment. Some who jammed the interview room at the National Press Club looked as if they might be first-assignment reporters for their church’s weekly newsletter, but most had the countenance and equipment of men and women accustomed to confronting the familiar figures who provide grist for the evening news and the morning editions in the nation’s capital. Still, even those well-seasoned veterans seemed to acknowledge the sheer physical presence radiated by the world’s most famous preacher, a man who is by almost any measure the most successful evangelist in Christian history.

  As Graham and his small retinue took their places at a table, it was hard not to be surprised that despite his six-foot-three-inch height, his shoulders are rather n
arrow, his chest thin, and his legs, outlined when he crosses them in a loose-jointed way, almost skinny; only the large expressive hands seem suited to a titan. But crowning this spindly frame is that most distinctive of heads, with the profile for which God created granite, the perpetual glowing tan, the flowing hair, the towering forehead, the square jaw, the eagle’s brow and eyes, and the warm smile that has melted hearts, tamed opposition, and subdued skeptics on six continents.

  After a press-club welcome and warm praise from the cochairs of the 1986 Greater Washington Crusade, Billy Graham took center stage. With a manner that suggested he still marveled that a simple country preacher found favor with famous and powerful people, he recalled how legendary House Speaker Sam Rayburn arranged for him to use the Capitol steps for the closing service of his 1952 crusade, mentioned that Ben Bradlee asked what the Washington Post could do to help the present effort (“I told him that all we want is the first headline every day for eight days”), revealed that he had discussed the crusade at private dinners with President and Mrs. Reagan, Vice-President and Mrs. Bush, and Secretary of State George Shultz and at meetings with Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and other cabinet members. He told of an international conference his organization would host that summer at a cost of more than 20 million dollars and revealed an ambitious plan to use satellite technology to preach the gospel simultaneously to virtually the entire world. Then, after lamenting the return of the Elmer Gantry image among television preachers, Billy spoke of his anguish over continuing racism, his concern for the hungry and homeless, and his determination to do what he could to foster bilateral nuclear disarmament and world peace.