A Prophet with Honor

by William C. Martin

  Chapter 5: Ruth

  83.Billy meets Ruth. Patricia Daniels Cornwell, A Time for Remembering: The Ruth Bell Graham Story (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 59. I freely acknowledge a considerable debt to this excellent biography by Ms. Cornwell, who has since turned her hand to a well-regarded series of mystery novels.

  84.Lutherans held “very strange beliefs.” Billy Graham, “Billy Graham’s Own Story: ‘God Is My Witness,’” Part I, McCall’s, April 1964, p. 125.

  84.Ruth’s childhood. Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, pp. 12–30.

  84.Ruth’s clothes and piety. Ibid., p. 60.

  85.“I had never heard anyone pray like [that] before.” John Pollock, Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 24.

  85.“we didn’t pay much attention.” Jean Graham Ford, oral history, CN 141, Box 3, Folder 44, BGCA.

  85.“if you let me serve you with that man.” Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, pp. 60–61. See also Pollock, Authorized Biography, pp. 24–25, and Marshall Frady, Billy Graham: Parable of American Righteousness (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), p. 140.

  85.The courtship. Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, pp. 60–68.

  86.“I’ll do the leading.” Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, p. 73; Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 26. Despite this assertion of authority, Billy may have been prepared to compromise. A story in the college newspaper a few weeks later revealed that he “wants to head for a Far Eastern missionary field immediately after his graduation, but will go into evangelistic work if the war interferes with his plans.” Wheaton Record, March 24, 1942.

  87.Speaking across the upper Midwest. Curtis Mitchell, Billy Graham: The Making of an Evangelist (Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 1966), p. 175. Newspaper clipping from Wheaton Daily Journal, September 13, 1941, CN 74, Box 1, Folder 4, Scrapbook, BGCA; V. Raymond Edman, “Random Recollections on Billy Graham as an Undergraduate,” n.d., CN 74 (Ephemera of William Franklin Graham), Folder 11, Box 2, Supplement 1, BGCA, “A Young Southern Evangelist,” handbill for meeting in Moline, Minnesota, CN 15, Box 1, Folder 6, BGCA.

  87.BG replaces Dr. Edman at “the Tab.” Clipping from Wheaton Daily Journal, September 13, 1941, Graham scrapbook, CN 15, Box 1, Folder 4, BGCA; Edman, “Random Recollections”; Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 27.

  87.LeTourneau “Number One Christian Layman.” Undated newspaper advertisement, CN 15, Box 1, Folder 1, Scrapbook, BGCA.

  87.Identical sermons. Robert Van Kampen, oral history, May 17, 1976, CN 141, Box 5, Folder 39, BGCA.

  88.Army rejected application for the chaplaincy. Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, p. 75.

  88.BG absent while Ruth is ill. Ibid., p. 78. At almost the same time, Jean Graham, who had shadowed Ruth throughout the wedding process, fell ill with bulbar polio, and Ruth may have had a light, nonparalyzing case of the same disease. Jean recovered, but suffered some lasting paralysis in one arm and in her throat. Jean Graham Ford, oral history, CN 141, Box 3, Folder 44, BGCA.

  88.“businessmen’s dinner series.” Van Kampen, oral history. See also William G. McLoughlin, Billy Graham, Revivalist in a Secular Age (New York: Ronald Press, 1960), p. 35; Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 30; Frady, Parable, p. 145, etc.

  88.Other accomplishments at the Village Church. Van Kampen, oral history.

  88.“Billy’s not a pastor.” Torrey Johnson, oral history (interview conducted by Robert Shuster, BGC archivist), December 13, 1984, CN 285, BGCA.

  88.“Get in there and preach.” Stanley High, Billy Graham: The Personal Story of the Man, His Message, and His Mission (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956), pp. 138–39.

  89.WCFL. Some accounts identify the station as WENR, but Johnson claims it was WCFL. Torrey Johnson, oral history.

  89.BG persuades congregation to sponsor Songs in the Night. Van Kampen, oral history. This task was not particularly difficult; Bob Van Kampen had provided key financial support for the program when Johnson ran it and believed in its potential.

  89.“Imagine! That’s our Billy Frank.” Morrow Coffey Graham, They Call Me Mother Graham (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1977), p. 47; Catherine Graham McElroy, interview, March 31, 1988. Also, Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, p. 80.

  89.Van Kampen Press. Van Kampen, oral history.

  89.Effectiveness of Songs in the Night. George Beverly Shea, interview, March 5, 1989; Torrey Johnson, oral history; Cornwell, A Time for Remembering, p. 80; etc.

  89.“another Billy Sunday or Moody” . . . “It was obvious.” Van Kampen, oral history.

  90.Growth in Bible institutes. Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), p. 913.

  Chapter 6: ”Geared to the Times, Anchored to the Rock”

  92.Beginnings of youth rallies. James C. Hefley, God Goes to High School (Waco, Tex.: Words Books, 1970), p. 21. The “Youth” section of United Evangelical Action, the journal published by the National Association of Evangelicals, regularly carried stories of Wyrtzen’s rallies, some of which drew more than twenty thousand young people. See, for example, the April 1944, May 1944, and October 1944 issues. These publications were made available to me by the staff at the National Association of Evangelicals, Carol Stream, Illinois.

  92.Bev Shea encourages Johnson to start youth program. Torrey Johnson, oral history (interview with Robert Shuster, BGC archivist), December 13, 1984, CN 285, BGCA. Also, Torrey Johnson, oral history (interview with Lois Ferm), February 8, 1977, CN 141, Box 24, Folder 23, BGCA. There is substantial overlap between these two oral histories, and no noticeable contradictions, but the interview in CN 285 is more extensive and thorough than that in CN 141. Both are extremely rich interviews.

  93.“the worst fit of stage fright of my life.” John Pollock, Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 32.

  93.“He electrified the gathering.” Merrill Dunlop (musical director for the service), interview with Robert Shuster, CN 50, Tape T2A, BGCA. Though I have consulted this and other sources for myself, I acknowledge a debt for having been guided to them by Ron Frank, a graduate student in Church history at the Graham Center in Wheaton during the period of my research there. My appreciation for the importance of the YFC years was greatly enhanced by conversation with Mr. Frank and by his unpublished seminar paper, “Graham’s Youth for Christ Years: What Was Their Significance?” May 15, 1986.

  93.“forty-two people responded” at May 27, 1944, Chicago rally. Hefley, High School, p. 22; Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 32; etc.

  93.“the Bobby-Sox Evangelist.” United Evangelical Action, November 1, 1944.

  93.“spent much of his time on the telephone.” James T. “Jimmie” Johnson, oral history, January 10, 1979, CN 141, Box 17, Folder 14, BGCA.

  94.Torrey Johnson persuades Graham to join YFC. In some accounts of this meeting, Johnson and the Grahams found themselves booked into the same hotel, or into propinquitous hotels, quite by accident (Patricia Daniels Cornwell, A Time for Remembering: The Ruth Bell Graham Story [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983], p. 81), though Graham has been quoted as saying it was “not by chance. The Lord was in it.” Stanley High, Billy Graham: The Personal Story of the Man, His Message, and His Mission (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956), p. 140. In an oral history interview (CN 285, BGCA), Johnson states the two couples made the trip together. In yet another version, Johnson was in Miami and requested hotel reservations for both parties. Don Mott, oral history, April 18, 1983, CN 141, Box 14, Folder 1, BGCA. Given Johnson’s single-minded pursuit of his goals, it is doubtful their meeting was a coincidence.

  94.“will you come join us?” BG, interview, March 1, 1988.

  94.Leaving Western Springs, gaining release from chaplaincy commitment. BG, interview, March 1, 1988.

  94.“not one bit of paper work.” Hefley, High School, p. 24.

  94.Winona Lake conference of Youth for Christ. Also present at this and subsequent meetings were businessmen who backed the movement and colle
ge presidents such as Bob Jones and V. Raymond Edman, who hoped the organization would send their schools a fresh supply of students. Other college presidents who supported the movement included John Brown of John Brown University in Arkansas, Louis Talbot of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and Will Houghton of the Moody Bible Institute. No school seems to have benefited from the movement more than Bob Jones College. Several of the YFC evangelists were enamored of the school, and several directed as many as forty or fifty students to it each year. Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 285, BGCA.

  94.“We never inquired.” Ibid.

  95.BG is “top civilian passenger.” Hefley, High School, p. 32. Some estimates run as high as 200,000 miles.

  95.T. W. Wilson joins YFC. T. W. Wilson, interview, February 26, 1987.

  95.“We were just these dynamic, handsome young guys.” Marshall Frady, Billy Graham: Parable of American Righteousness (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), p. 161.

  96.“consecrated saxophone.” “YFC Girds for Action,” United Evangelical Action, August 15, 1945.

  96.MacArthur, “the Gospel Horse.” Hefley, High School, p. 17. Torrey Johnson claims the Gospel Horse was not a YFC attraction, but the story is well attested, and the BGCA contain material on such a horse. It may be that Johnson was never directly associated with such an act. Johnson, oral history, CN 285, BGCA.

  96.“We punched them right between the eyes.” William G. McLoughlin, Billy Graham, Revivalist in a Secular Age (New York: Ronald Press, 1960), p. 38.

  96.1945 Memorial Day Rally. “70,000 Attend Memorial Day Rally,” United Evangelical Action, June 15, 1945; “Billy Graham Tours Country for YFC,” United Evangelical Action, April 4, 1945); Torrey Johnson, oral history (interview with Lois Ferm), February 8, 1977, CN 141, Box 24, Folder 23, BGCA.

  97.“I believe God wants you to go to . . .” Hefley, High School, p. 31.

  97.First meeting between Graham and Barrows. Cliff Barrows, interview, February 24, 1987.

  97.“Graham might turn out to be a top newsmaker.” Wesley Hartzell and Jim Huffman, “Billy Graham’s Twenty Years as a World Crusader,” Chicago Sunday American Magazine, March 13, 1966, p. 4, in CN 224 (Shufelt Papers), Box 1, Folder 18, BGCA.

  98.“Puff YFC.” Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 285, BGCA; “Youth for Christ,” Time, February 4, 1946, pp. 46–47. According to Johnson, the telegram, whose wording was notably similar to Hearst’s later and more famous directive, “Puff Graham,” fell into the hands of Wesley Hartzell, who relayed its contents to Johnson.

  98.Hartzell’s reports give BG wide exposure. Hefley, High School, p. 25; cf. also Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 21.

  98.Preparation for trip to England. Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 285, BGCA; United Evangelical Action, March 1, 1946; Charles Templeton, interview, December 2, 1987; Frady, Parable, p. 164; Pollock, Authorized Biography, pp. 34–35.

  99.Fiasco at Gander AFB. Charles Templeton, interview.

  99.“like a breath from heaven.” Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 141, BGCA.

  99.“We want you just like you were.” Ibid.

  99.“He spoke for fifty-seven minutes.” . . . “It was terrific.” Canon Thomas Livermore, oral history, 1971, CN 141, Box 10, Folder 9, BGCA. The memory of the bow tie and the clerical robe was provided by BG in a talk before the Youth for Christ Council Convocation, July 26–August 4, 1974, CN 141, Box 11, Folder 55, Tape 15A, BGCA.

  100.Paul Maddox assists Graham. Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 141, BGCA.

  100.“God really knit our hearts together.” Cliff Barrows, interview, February 24, 1987.

  100.Fog in churches. Don E. Hoke, article in Christian Life, reprinted in The Fundamentalist, January 6, 1950, in CN 360, MF Reel 1, BGCA.

  100.Manchester campaign. “Billy Graham on Evangelism,” Christian Life, January 1951, p. 11, cited by Frank, “Graham’s YFC Years,” fn. 22.

  100.“not to argue, only to explain.” Stanley High, Billy Graham: The Personal Story of the Man, His Message, and His Mission (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956), p. 143.

  100.“Billy called on me.” An unidentified clergyman quoted in High, Personal Story, p. 144.

  101.“the greatest spiritual revival.” United Evangelical Action, January 1, 1947, p. 17.

  101.Olford’s meeting with Graham. Stephen Olford, interview, April 21, 1988; Stephen Olford, oral history, CN 141, Box 5, Folder 27, BGCA; BG, interview, March 1, 1988. The three sources of this account differ in minor details, mostly with respect to chronology. Based primarily on the personnel making the two YFC trips, the version presented here seems accurate. With the passage of time, the significance of the event seems to have diminished somewhat in Graham’s assessment, but since he assigned it a prominent role in earlier accounts, it seems fair to assume that it was a pivotal occasion.

  102.“It became fascinating.” Templeton, quoted in Frady, Parable, pp. 172–73.

  102.“a similar Southern Baptist youth revival movement.” During the summer of 1946, Reiji Hoshizaki, a Nisei student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, participated in activities of the Chicagoland Youth for Christ. That fall, his enthusiasm generated interest at Baylor for a similar program. The following year, after Hoshizaki and a fellow student, M. D. Oates, observed additional YFC activities in San Diego, they returned to Baylor committed to a youth-led revival effort, which they called Waco Youth for Christ. Months of preparation and hours-long prayer meetings culminated in dramatically successful citywide revivals in Waco, Dallas, and Houston. Then, under the aegis of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the movement organized similarly fruitful efforts throughout the South and in Hawaii. Numerous participants in what came to be known as the Youth Revival movement—since they were not affiliated with YFCI, they were asked to drop the original designation—have become key leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, and historians of the movement credit it with giving rise to organized youth programs in Baptist and other churches. For a concise sketch of this movement, see Katy Jennings Stokes, “Those Halcyon Days,” The Baylor Line, April 1981, pp. 23–27. The Texas Collection at Baylor contains scrapbooks, correspondence, and oral histories pertaining to the movement. I am also indebted to conversations with former participant William Cody for helpful background information and insights regarding the movement.

  102.Hearst: YFC a “good and growing thing.” Quoted in Hefley, High School, p. 13. No source given.

  103.“Modernism was on the ropes.” From a Graham sermon quoted by Charles Cook, The Billy Graham Story: “One Thing I Do” (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1955), pp. 90–91, cited by McLoughlin, Revivalist, pp. 39–40.

  103.“America’s foremost youth leader.” Song sheet from YFC rally, Grand Rapids, Michigan, September 1947, CN 224 (Shufelt Papers), Box 1, Folder 18, BGCA. Cited in Ron Frank, “Billy Graham and Los Angeles 1949: A Date with Destiny,” (unpublished paper, Wheaton College, 1986), pp. 4–5.

  103.“A Young Athlete.” Crusade brochure, Grand Rapids, September 1947, ibid.

  103.Advertising for Charlotte campaign. “Crusade Report—Billy Graham Revival in Charlotte, North Carolina,” CN 5 (Patterson Papers), Box 1, Folder 8, BGCA.

  103.“a gaggle of gospel variety acts.” Charlotte Observer, November 23, 1947, and August 10, 1958; “Crusade Report,” Patterson Papers; Mel Larson, Youth for Christ: Twentieth-Century Wonder (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1947); quotes from Grady Wilson are from Frady, Parable, p. 174.

  104.“We didn’t really ask Grady.” BG, interview, March 5, 1989.

  104.Raising Shea’s pay. Vernon W. Patterson, oral history, 1971, CN 141, Box 5, Folder 29, BGCA.

  104.“Communism . . . South America” and “Unless . . . isolated in the world.” Charlotte Observer, November 23, 1947.

  104.“You should see Europe.” Tom Fesperman, Charlotte News, November 10, 1947.

  104.“Jesus Christ is the Hero of my soul.” Charlotte Observer, November 23, 1947.

  104.Advertisement for Northwestern College. “Northwester
n College Opens September, 1944,” United Evangelical Action, August 15, 1944, p. 3.

  104.Riley talks to both Johnson and Graham. On March 12, 1946, the Northwestern board officially invited Johnson to become president of the schools, with Graham to serve as his assistant and “field representative.” Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 141, BGCA. Some people familiar with the story believe Graham was Riley’s first choice and that the decision to invite Johnson was at Graham’s urging (see, for example, Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 42), but the early date of this invitation makes this somewhat improbable. W. T. Watson stated that Riley had first developed an interest in Graham during his visits to FBI. Watson, oral history, January 30, 1971, CN 141, Box 4, Folder 46, BGCA.

  105.W. B. Riley’s search for a successor. George Wilson, interview, August 3, 1987; Torrey Johnson, oral history, CN 141, BGCA; High, Personal Story, p. 145.

  105.Riley: “I’ll meet you at the judgment seat.” High, Personal Story, p. 145. Several versions of this story exist, none of which can be certified as accurate, since no recording of the occasion exists, and Graham’s own memory for such details is imprecise. Pollock, for example, has Riley using the biblical image of Elijah’s conferring his mantle upon Elisha, Authorized Biography, p. 42. Frady’s account appears to be a conflation of the High and Pollock versions. Frady, Parable, p. 175. Since Graham has been the ostensible source of all the accounts, I have chosen to accept High’s version because it was obtained closer to the event itself. There seems no doubt that Riley called Graham to his bedside and invoked some biblical story of succession.

  105.BG agrees only to interim presidency. Graham’s reluctance to assume the position is made clear in a letter written to the school’s board of directors eleven days after Riley’s death. In it he stated that he would become the interim president “with the clear understanding that my present responsibilities and commitments to Youth for Christ International before September 1, 1948, are to be fulfilled. . . . I have never sought this position. It has been thrust upon me. I wrote Dr. Riley several letters in which I turned down the position flatly, even requesting that he neither negotiate nor write to me anymore; but you know Dr. Riley. When he thought he was right, he held on as ferociously as a bulldog until he made me give him this promise and commitment. I intend to fulfill my obligation and commitment to Dr. Riley. . . .” Letter from BG to Northwestern Schools Board of Directors, December 17, 1947, in Minutes of Youth for Christ Board of Directors, CN 48 (Youth for Christ International), Box 9, Folder 4, BGCA. Cited by R. Frank, “Graham’s YFC Years,” n. 44.