A Prophet with Honor

by William C. Martin

  129.“swashbuckling southerner.” Grace Davidson, Boston Post, December 30, 1949.

  129.“imminent deification of Joseph Stalin.” Gene Casey, “Evangelist Sees Return of Christ in 10–15 Years,” Boston Globe, December 30, 1949.

  129.“Wait till those gravestones start popping.” Boston American, January 13, 1950.

  129.Description of heaven. Boston Post, January 16, 1950. BG offered a virtually identical description of heaven a few weeks later in Columbia, South Carolina. Columbia State, March 6, 1950. I have not found any evidence that he made such statements after these two occasions.

  130.Prayer meetings in hell. “500 Become Converted After Sermon on Hell,” Boston Herald, January 14, 1950, CN17, Mid-Century Campaign, Scrapbook 1, 1949, BGCA; “Immortality,” Hour of Decision, 1957.

  130.Belshazzar sermon. Boston Globe, January 6, 1950. Also in Boston Traveler, January 6, 1950, and Gillenson, “God’s Ball of Fire,” Look, p. 27.

  130.Prodigal Son sermon. Boston Globe, January 10, 1950. The “uppity pig” impression was described by a reporter for the Pittsburgh Press, September 18, 1952, p. 2, reporting on the Prodigal Son sermon as rendered in that city. Quoted in William G. McLoughlin, Billy Graham, Revivalist in a Secular Age (New York: Ronald Press, 1960), p. 125.

  131.Ruth’s reaction to Billy’s acting. Stanley High, Billy Graham: The Personal Story of the Man, His Message, and His Mission (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956), p. 88.

  131.Ruth discusses marriage. Boston Globe, January 17, 1950; Dorothy Cremin, Atlanta Journal, February 9, 1950; Betty Cody, Columbia State, March 12, 1950.

  131.“They hate the gospel.” Boston Globe, January 15, 1950.

  132.BG not mercenary. Joseph F. Dineen, Boston Globe, April 3, 1950; Gordon W. Sanders (assistant city editor of Boston Herald), testimonial letter, March 1, 1950, CN 360, MF Reel 3, BGCA.

  132.“aiming for diamond greatness.” Boston Post souvenir edition, n.d., CN 360, Scrapbook 16, MF Reel 3, BGCA.

  132.Death penalty. “Billy Graham, Others, Discuss Sander Case from Boston Pulpits,” Boston Globe, January 9, 1950, pp. 1, 16. CN 17, Mid-Century Campaign Scrapbook.

  132.“Don’t anybody tell Mr. Truman.” “Revival Better than Europe Aid—Graham,” Boston Record, January 11, 1950; “We May Spend Selves into Depression, Graham Says,” Boston Globe, January 10, 1950.

  132.O’Neill “introduced him to the assembly.” BG, interview, March 5, 1989.

  132.“Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.” Matt. 17:4.

  132.“possibly disobeyed the voice of God.” Allan Emery, oral history. See also John Pollock, Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 68.

  132.Haymaker’s contributions. Grady Wilson, interview, March 1, 1987; McLoughlin, Revivalist, pp. 54–55.

  133.“crusade.” Willis Haymaker, oral history, January 29, 1971, CN 141, Box 4, Folder 22, BGCA; Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 69.

  133.Strom Thurmond’s help. Grady Wilson, interview, March 1, 1987; Cliff Barrows, interview, March 25, 1987; Columbia State, March 5, 1950.

  133.Appearance at Bob Jones University. Little Moby’s Post, March/April 1950, p. 1. Little Moby’s Post is a BJU Alumni publication. 133. Time story on Columbia crusade. “Heaven, Hell, and Judgment Day,” Time, March 20, 1950, pp. 72–73. On the night Luce attended the crusade, BG preached on the Judgment and Hell. See also Pollock, Authorized Biography, pp. 70–71 f.

  134.Peace with God. Gerald Beavan, interview, July 27, 1988. Wyrtzen fills in, Boston Post, April 11, 1950.

  135.BG requests visit with Truman. Letter from BG to White House, February 9, 1949; Letter from Charles G. Ross, secretary to President Truman, February 9, 1949; Letter from BG to Mr. Ross, February 17, 1949. CN 74, MF Reel (Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, Letters and Telegrams), BGCA. Unless otherwise noted, subsequent correspondence pertaining to Truman is from this same collection.

  135.“his whole ambition was ‘to get President Truman’s ear.’” AP, February 19, 1950.

  135.“national day of repentance.” “Gospel Rally Attracts 6,000,” Boston Sunday Post, January 1, 1950.

  135.Appointment with Truman granted. Letters, Congressman Joseph R. Bryson to John McCormack, May 25, 1950; Matthew J. Connelly (secretary to the President) to BG, June 1, 1950; Connelly to BG, June 20, 1950.

  135.BG visits Truman. BG, Grady Wilson, Gerald Beavan, interviews; Cliff Barrows, “We Met the President,” Youth for Christ Magazine, n.d. (shortly after July 1950 visit), CN 360, MF Reel 3, BGCA; “persona non grata,” Billy Graham, “Billy Graham’s Own Story: ‘God Is My Witness,’” Part II, McCall’s, May 1964, pp. 180–81; photo of group, AP wirephoto, Oregon Journal, July 22, 1950; Charles Cook, The Billy Graham Story: “One Thing I Do” (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1955), p. 40. Participants reported that they wore white suits, and the AP wirephoto seems to confirm this. Time, however, described BG’s suit as “pistachio-colored.” Graham did indeed have a green suit, which he sometimes wore with matching green shoes. Time may have been correct; I have chosen to accept the report of the participants.

  136.“I talk to more people.” Letter, BG to Truman, July 18, 1950.

  136.Truman refuses to send telegram. Letter, presidential secretary Matthew Connelly to William M. Boyle, Jr., chairman of Democratic National Committee, August 23, 1950, declining request made by Evangelical leader Carl F. H. Henry. Connelly noted that “the president . . . has not in a single instance commended any one particular religious meeting.”

  136.“publicity-grabbing God-huckster.” See Truman’s assessment of Graham in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking (New York: Berkeley, 1973), p. 363.

  137.Meeting with Truman. BG, Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., April 30, 1986. Grady Wilson, interview, March 1, 1987; see also, Grady Wilson, Count It All Joy (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1984), pp. 206–208; Gerald Beavan interview; Graham, “‘God Is My Witness,’” Part II, p. 180.

  137.Portland Tabernacle. Brochure, CN 360, MF Reel 3, BGCA. The structure had modern restrooms, a first-aid room and nursery, and fifty thousand watts of lighting.

  137.Boisterous women. Portland Oregonian, August 22, 1950; Louis Hofferbert, “The Billy Graham Story,” Houston Press, n.d., ch. 11. This syndicated newspaper biography, by Hofferbert, was first published during the 1952 Houston crusade.

  137.Portland crusade attendance. Newspaper accounts of the revival generally peg the attendance at close to 650,000. BGEA claims a more modest 520,000.

  137.Eisner meets with BG. I was told this story by Fred Dienert, Eisner’s son-in-law, who claims Eisner had no idea BG was within a thousand miles. In the version related by John Pollock (Authorized Biography, pp. 80–82), Eisner had narrowed the field in which Providence was called upon to act. Both accounts credit Eisner with a strong propensity to follow “impressions,” which he regarded as God’s way of directing his life.

  139.BG considers a radio program. Raising money for radio. This account is based primarily on an interview with Fred Dienert, October 5, 1987. Dienert acknowledges a certain fuzziness on precise details. For slightly differing versions, see High, Personal Story, pp. 153–64; McLoughlin, Revivalist, pp. 63–64; Pollock, Authorized Biography, pp. 80–83; and BG and T. W. Wilson, oral history, March 3, 1976, CN 141, Box 32, Folder 28, BGCA. In his 1964 autobiographical series for McCall’s, in which he appears to have made several minor factual errors, BG placed the figure contributed at the service at $24,000. Graham, “‘God Is My Witness,’” Part II, p. 181. Gerald Beavan, whose claim to a good memory for details is supported by cross-checking with other sources, insists, along with several others, that $23,500 is the correct amount. Bill Mead and Howard Butt, Jr., both eventually became members of BGEA’s board of directors. Butt’s practice of spending six months a year in evangelistic work, which won him the sobriquet, God’s Grocery man, is mentioned in United Evangelical Action, 1954, p. 148.

  140.Formation of BGEA. George Wilson, interview, August 3, 1987; BG and
T. W. Wilson, oral history. Though usually regarded as the first business manager of BGEA, Wilson was technically the second. Because Wilson was still fully employed by Northwestern Schools, BG sent Frank Phillips, the YFC director who headed the Portland crusade committee, to head up the operation during its first few weeks of operation, and he traveled to Minneapolis approximately every other week during the first six to ten months of the organization’s existence. Graham and Wilson, oral history.

  140.Hour of Decision premier broadcast. Hour of Decision, radio script, program 1, November 5, 1950, in folder with Paul S. James, oral history, March 17, 1977, CN 141, Box 4, Folder 40, BGCA; Paul Mickelson, oral history, May 19, 1976, CN 141, Box 21, Folder 14, BGCA. Mickelson was BG’s organist during this period and played on this first program. See also McLoughlin, Revivalist, p. 65; Authorized Biography, p. 85.

  141.“About ten years before he was born.” Vernon W. Patterson, oral history, 1971, CN 141, Box 5, Folder 29, Addendum, BGCA.

  141.Nielsen rating. Billy Graham, America’s Hour of Decision (Wheaton, Ill.: Van Kampen Press, 1951), pp. 64–66, quoted in McLoughlin, Revivalist, p. 65.

  141.Expansion of radio program. McLoughlin, Revivalist, p. 65.

  141.“an estimated twenty million people.” In light of the erroneously outsize claims made in recent years about the size of the audiences for television evangelists, this estimate may be overblown. See, for example, William Martin, “The Birth of a Media Myth,” The Atlantic, June 1981, pp. 7–16.

  142. Hour of Decision television program. According to BG, the impetus to produce a television program came from Leonard Goldenson, president of United Paramount Theaters, Paramount studio’s distribution division. Goldenson had met BG during a visit to Paramount, whose president, Frank Freeman, was an ardent supporter of his crusades, and he had heard the evangelist turn down a lucrative offer to star in a Paramount movie. When ABC, owned by Paramount, decided to produce a weekly religious television program, Goldenson contacted BG and persuaded him to star in it. At first, ABC donated the time; then BGEA began to pay for it to insure freedom to produce the kind of program BG wanted. When ABC, under pressure from NBC and CBS, decided in 1954 to stop selling time for religious programming, BGEA discontinued the program. BG, interview, March 5, 1989.

  142.“no one remembers.” Jerry B. Jenkins, “A Conversation with Billy Graham,” IRTV Guide, 1974, p. 8.

  142.The mail operation. BG and T. W. Wilson, oral history.

  142.BG begins “My Answer.” Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 87.

  143.Photos in Atlanta Constitution, December 11, 1950, p. 2; Paul James, oral history, various interviews.

  143.Atlanta love offering of $9,268.60. AP, January 6, 1951. Total contributions during the Atlanta crusade came to $127,241. BG received 55 percent of a love offering amounting to $16,852, with the remainder going to Barrows. BG told reporters that the money would be “reinvested in the service of the Lord.”

  143.BG goes on salary. BG, interview; Graham, “‘God Is My Witness,’” Part II, pp. 181–82; McLoughlin, Revivalist, p. 67; Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 88. The November 1951 Greensboro crusade was apparently the last in which a love offering was taken.

  143.Russell Maguire’s background. “Trouble for the Mercury,” Time, December 8, 1952, p. 42. The occasion of this article was Maguire’s purchase of the conservative journal of opinion, The American Mercury. At the news of the purchase, a substantial portion of the magazine’s staff resigned.

  144.Maguire offers money. W. T. Watson, oral history, February 14, 1977, CN 141, Box 5, Folder 42, BGCA.

  144.Oiltown U.S.A. promotion. McLoughlin, Revivalist, pp. 98–99. Mr. Texas appeared in 1951; Oiltown appeared in 1952. At least part of the funding for Mr. Texas was provided by the Tarrant County Baptist Association. Fort Worth is in Tarrant County, and the sermons that led to Redd Harper’s conversion were filmed during the Fort Worth crusade.

  144.TV program funded by Texans. Pollock, Authorized Biography, pp. 100–101.

  144.Western hat, green suit, “Gabriel in Gabardine.” According to Barrows, the hat was a gift from the team. Though he liked it, BG eventually stopped wearing the hat because he felt it drew too much attention. Barrows, interview, February 24, 1987. Grady Wilson remembered the green suit: “I was with Billy at Boston-Hoffman in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he bought that green suit. I thought it was so pretty. It was what they call Charmaine gabardine. Had a real sheen to it. Some reporter called him a ‘Gabriel in Gabardine.’ [After that article], Billy got self-conscious and put [it] aside. Gave it to his brother or somebody in his family, I think.” Grady Wilson, interview, May 1, 1987. Green suede shoes were mentioned by J. Mabel Clark in an article that apparently appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, April 27, 1952. The citation is unclear in BGCA scrapbooks. In other stories from this period, reporters called BG a “Barrymore of the Bible,” a “Hollywood John the Baptist,” and a “Matinee Idol Revivalist.” In one story, published in the Midland News, January 23, 1952, a reporter indicated that BG insisted that photographers always take his “good” profile.

  144.Graham holds “an airborne service.” AP, June 9, 1951; Paul Mickelson, oral history.

  144.Governor Langlie chairs crusade. Hilding Halvarson, oral history, May 12, 1976, CN 141, Box 4, Folder 15, BGCA.

  144.Premier of Mr. Texas. AP, October 2, 1951. The crowd for the premier and other services during the Hollywood Bowl meeting was built with the aid of Henrietta Mears’s Sunday school students, who divided up the metropolitan telephone book and tried to call everyone in it. BG packed the Hollywood Bowl night after night. Ethel May Baldwin and David V. Benson, Henrietta Mears and How She Did It! (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1966), pp. 151–52.

  145.“a wonderful ride.” Mr. Texas, Billy Graham Evangelistic Films, 1951. Print furnished by BGEA.

  145.“God’s seal of approval.” Pollock, Authorized Biography, p. 100.

  145.Dave Barr recalls early days of film ministry. Interview, November 14, 1987.

  145.BG expects short ministry. “Billy Graham Predicts He Hasn’t Long to Live,” Pittsburgh Press, September 8, 1952.

  145.“on Communist purge lists.” Unidentified clipping, apparently from Portland Oregonian, August 22, 1950.

  Chapter 9: Principalities and Powers

  147.“your Waterloo.” Minneapolis Star, January 19, 1952.

  147.Washington crusade statistics. “Rockin’ the Capitol,” Time, March 3, 1952, p. 76.

  147.“high point of the crusade.” “40,000 Heard Billy Graham in Drizzle on Capitol Steps,” Washington Times-Herald, February 4, 1952. Most newspapers used a similar figure, although a Red Wing, Minnesota, paper carried a small article noting that an experienced crowd estimator claimed no more than five thousand people were at the service. Inexperienced observers often exaggerate crowd size, but an eightfold error seems unlikely.

  147.“you didn’t need anything but Sam Rayburn’s word.” BG, press conference, National Press Club, Washington, D.C., April 24, 1986.

  147.Involvement of congressmen in crusade. UP, January 23, 1952.

  147.“Harry is doing the best he can.” Warren Ashby, “The Message of Billy Graham,” unpublished article, n.d., quoted by William G. McLoughlin, Billy Graham, Revivalist in a Secular Age (New York: Ronald Press, 1960), pp. 243–44, fn. 47.

  148.Truman: “he was never a friend of mine.” Harry S Truman, in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking (New York: Berkeley, 1973), p. 363.

  148.“Truman eventually softened his assessment.” During his 1967 crusade in Kansas City, BG made a point of visiting Truman in Independence, Missouri. Obviously still embarrassed at the memory, when he apologized for his awkward visit to the White House in 1950, Truman countered with his own apology that his assistants had not made the rules of protocol clearer and assured the evangelist he bore him no ill will. Graham has told this story on several occasions, and members of his team have confirmed it.

  148.“when, as, and if a request comes.”
Memo, Matthew Connelly to “WDH.” CN 74, MF Reel (Harry S Truman Presidential Library, Letters and Telegrams), BGCA. Unless otherwise noted, subsequent correspondence pertaining to Truman is from this same collection.

  148.BG invites Truman to address a crusade service. BG to Truman, December 23, 1951.

  148.“at Key West” . . . “not want it repeated.” Memo, WDH to Matthew Connelly, December 28, 1951.

  148.“disappointing reply,” Connelly to BG, December 31, 1951.

  149.“advantageous for the President.” BG to Connelly, January 9, 1952.

  149.“225 ministers who urged him to be present.” Gerald Beavan to Truman, January 28, 1952.

  149.“would rejoice to know that their chief executive was in attendance.” BG to Truman, January 29, 1952.

  149.BG calls the White House. Memo, ACM to Connelly, January 31, 1952.

  149.The President sends best wishes. Connelly to BG, February 1, 1952.

  149.“I guess he was just too busy.” “Rockin’ the Capitol,” p. 76. As a gesture of good will, BG sent the president a copy of Communism and Christ, a book he apparently thought might prove useful in confrontations with the Red Menace. An aide noted that the volume “was respectfully referred to the Department of State for appropriate acknowledgment.” White House memo, March 3, 1952.

  149.Congressmen support the crusade. Prebendary Colin C. Kerr, “Is America in Revival?” The Life of Faith (British Evangelical publication), February 20, 1952.

  149.Attendance at Capitol rally. “Graham Converts Congressmen,” Minneapolis Star, February 4, 1952.

  149.Pentagon prayer meetings. “Rockin’ the Capitol,” p. 76.

  150.Senator Robertson’s resolution. AP, February 15, 1952.

  150.“we can hold the balance of power.” INS, October 17, 1951, in CN 74, Box 1, Folder 12, BGCA.

  150.MacArthur is “deeply religious.” “Rockin’ the Capitol,” p. 76; see also AP, February 20, 1952.