A Prophet with Honor

by William C. Martin

  328.Ruth Graham’s dream. Mitchell, London Crusade, p. 34.

  328.Bill Bradley and Cliff Richard. Ibid., pp. 38, 75.

  328.“not a youth night.” Pollock, Crusade ’66, p. 52.

  328.Antiwar demonstration. Ibid., p. 80.

  328.Police volunteers. Mitchell, London Crusade, p. 36.

  328.BG orders team relocation. Howard Jones, interview, May 1, 1987; also, Pollock, Crusade ’66, p. 282.

  328.BG visits Brixton. The Christian and Christianity Today, May 27, 1966. Also, Mitchell, London Crusade, p. 74; Pollock, Crusade ’66, pp. 40–41.

  328.Ministry to working people. Pollock, Crusade ’66, pp. 60–62. Other references to Wesley, Hardie, Shaftesbury, William Wilberforce, and YMCA founder George Williams can be found in newspaper clippings from the period of the crusade, CN 360, MF Reels 17–18, BGCA.

  329.Unsuccessful preaching efforts in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square. Mitchell, London Crusade, p. 71.

  329.Graham gives “200-second sermon” in Soho. Mitchell, London Crusade, pp. 79–80; and Pollock, Crusade ’66, p. 43.

  329.Closed-circuit TV transmissions. “London-Leeds TV Link-up,” Yorkshire Evening Post, January 18, 1966; Robert Ferm, interview; Pollock, Crusade ’66, pp. 53–59; Mitchell, London Crusade, pp. 100–102.

  330.Earls Court statistics. BGEA crusade statistics.

  330.BG honored by royalty and others. Mitchell, London Crusade, p. 73; Pollock, Crusade ’66, pp. 81–82.

  330.“a slight air of defensiveness pervades team descriptions.” Interviews, BG, February 26, 1987; Robert Ferm, Lane Adams, others; Pollock, Crusade ’66, p. 82.

  330.“We’ve grown accustomed to his faith.” Vincent Mulchrone, London Daily Mail, quoted in Mitchell, London Crusade, p. 13.

  331.On the Other Side: The Report of the Evangelical Alliance’s Commission on Evangelism (England: Scripture Union, 1968), pp. 135–45, 168–69; Rowlandson, interview.

  332.John Mott. Mott’s story is well-known. For one carefully researched and well-documented account, see Arthur E. Johnston, World Evangelism and the Word of God (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1974).

  332.No resolutions on issues on which participants differed. Minute 16 of the International Committee, meeting July 14–20, 1908, p. 8, Archives, World Council of Churches, Geneva. Quoted in Johnston, World Evangelism, p. 95.

  332.IMC conference in Madras, 1938. See Johnston, World Evangelism, pp. 171–95.

  333.Mott: “Evangelist!” Billy Graham, “Why the Berlin Congress?” Christianity Today, November 11, 1966, p. 3.

  333.“an old form of evangelism.” Quoted in Arthur E. Johnston, The Battle for World Evangelism (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1978), p. 105.

  333.Universalism triumphs at New Delhi. Johnston, Battle, p. 147.

  333.BG thrilled with World Council meetings. BG, interview, February 27, 1987.

  333.Montreaux meeting. BG, interview, February 27, 1987.

  333.BG asks Henry to lead Berlin Congress. Carl F. H. Henry, Confessions of a Theologian: An Autobiography (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1986), p. 252.

  334.Purposes of the congress. Stanley Mooneyham, “Do It Again, Lord,” unidentified clipping, March 4, 1966, CN 83–108, MF Reel 10 (Clippings, England 1/66–6/66), BGCA.

  334.Berlin Congress a “Council of War”. “The World Congress: Springboard for Evangelical Renewal,” Christianity Today, November 25, 1966, p. 34.

  334.a “once-for-all shot.” Carl F. H. Henry, interview, February 10, 1987.

  334.Friction over selection of delegates. Henry, Confessions, p. 253.

  334.Delegates from 104 nations. “The World Congress,” Christianity Today, November 25, 1966, p. 34; Dave Foster, “Flags of 100 Nations Fly in Berlin,” The Christian and Christianity Today, November 4, 1966, p. 1; John Pollock, Crusades: 20 Years with Billy Graham (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1969), p. 234.

  334.Kimo and Komi. “Two Ex-Savages in a Big World,” Miami News, November 26, 1966. In some reports, both Aucas are implicated in the missionary deaths; in others, only Kimo is mentioned, suggesting that Komi may not have been directly involved.

  335.“One could almost imagine . . . the Rapture.” Foster, “Flags of 100 Nations,” p. 1.

  335.The “birth clock.” Pollock, Crusades, p. 236; Foster, “Flags of 100 Nations,” p. 1.

  335.BG’s definition of evangelism. Graham, “Why Berlin?” p. 5. The Luthern bishop who had praised BG was Otto Dibelius.

  336.WCC sees “need for revolutionary change.” WCC statement quoted in Johnston, Battle, pp. 153–54.

  336.“evangelistic type” compared to “Nazi Christians.” Henry, Confessions, p. 254.

  336.BG’s opening address. Graham, “Why Berlin?” Christianity Today, November 11, 1966, pp. 5–6; “The Heart of a Revolution,” The Christian and Christianity Today, pp. 1, 12, 20, 22.

  336.Pew resists social action. Henry, Confessions, pp. 264–66.

  337.“not only passivity . . .” William Pannell, “Spiritual Needs of the Negro,” in One Race, One Gospel, One Task, vol. II of official reference volumes of the World Congress on Evangelism (Minneapolis World Wide Publications, 1957), pp. 376–80, and Christianity Today, November 11, 1966, p. 12.

  337.Jones objects to omission of race from address. Harold Schachern, “Race Issue Sparks Row at Evangelical Congress,” Detroit News, October 31, 1966.

  337.Maxey Jarman warns against political power. “The World Congress,” Christianity Today, November 25, 1966, p. 35.

  337.Black minister (the Reverend Louis Johnson) responds: “Law did for me.” Ibid.

  337.“racialism . . . distinctions of race or color.” David E. Kucharsky, “Racialism Condemned at Berlin Congress,” Christianity Today, November 4, 1966; UPI, November 4, 1966, CN 19, Box 10, Folder 2 (1/68–3/71), BGCA.

  337.Haile Selassie appears at congress. Foster, “Flags of 100 Nations,” p. 1; Henry, Confessions, pp. 257–58; Pollock, Crusades, p. 235.

  338.Henry’s reservations about Pentecostal phenomena. Letter, Henry to Roberts, May 17, 1965, in Oral Roberts University archives, quoted in David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Oral Roberts: An American Life (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), p. 199.

  338.“we were not sure how our ministry would be accepted.” Oral Roberts, “My Personal Impressions of the World Congress on Evangelism,” Abundant Life, January 1967, p. 28, quoted in Harrell, Oral Roberts, p. 200.

  338.BG discusses Roberts with Calvin Thielman. Harrell, Oral Roberts, p. 201, based on interview with Thielman.

  338.BG agrees to speak at ORU. Ibid., p. 201.

  339.Roberts chairs panel discussion on healing. Ibid., pp. 202–203.

  339.BG introduces Oral Roberts. From Oral Roberts, “We Have Been Conquered by Love,” Abundant Life, February 1967, p. 23, quoted in Harrell, Oral Roberts, p. 203.

  339.Roberts addresses the congress. Roberts, “Conquered by Love,” quoted in Harrell, Oral Roberts, p. 204.

  339.Oral’s prayer. Ibid.

  339.“I’ve been on the outside looking in.” Ibid., p. 206, quoting from Thielman interview.

  340.“I knew that Billy loved me.” Quoted in ibid., p. 206.

  340.McIntire not invited to Berlin. Carl McIntire, Outside the Gate (Collingswood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1967), pp. 106, 117, 121–24, 134–35, 175; Christianity Today, November 25, 1966, p. 35; J. D. Douglas, interview, July 17, 1986.

  340.Speakers told not to attack communism. McIntire, Outside the Gate, pp. 56, 141, 151.

  341.McIntire tapes ACCC protest to Kongresshalle walls. Ibid., p. 108.

  341.McIntire rejoices in his purity. Ibid., pp. 176, 138–39.

  341.BG helping to build church of the Antichrist. Ibid., pp. 7, 12, 48, 95.

  342.Media coverage of Congress. “The World Congress: Springboard for Evangelical Renewal,” Christianity Today, November 25, 1966, p. 34; Henry, Confessions, p. 260; Religious News Service, quoted in McIntire, Outside the Gate, pp. 13–14.

  342.“Berlin shatt
ered that stereotype.” Jim Newton, July 17, 1986.

  342.“Congress shaped a mood.” Henry, Confessions, p. 261.

  342.Westerners surprised by non-Western evangelism. J. D. Douglas, Japan Harvest, Fall 1966. . . . From typed copy furnished by Douglas.

  343.BG at NCC meeting. Reported in McIntire, Outside the Gate, pp. 233, 204.

  Chapter 21: Dreams and Wars

  344.BG at Turin. John Pollock, Crusades: 20 Years with Billy Graham (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1969), p. 247.

  345.Poland visit planned and canceled. UPI, Charlotte Observer, September 9, 1966. “I hope . . . later time.” Atlanta Journal, quoted in Carl McIntire, Outside the Gate (Collings wood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1967), p. 142. McIntire felt BG was foolish for wanting to visit Communist countries, whose leaders were certain to use him for propaganda purposes, Outside the Gate, pp. 142–58. He would still be making the same contention about BG’s visits to the USSR and other Eastern bloc countries during the 1980s.

  345.Pope Paul VI kept out of Poland. Alexander Haraszti, oral history, May 21, 1979, CN 141, Box 45, Folder 1, BGCA. For detailed information about Haraszti, see Part V, Chapters 29–31.

  345.Yugoslavian visit. Pollock, Crusades, pp. 247–48, and Billy Graham, Evangelist to the World (New York: Harper & Row, 1979; Crusade Edition published by World Wide Publications), pp. 81–83; “Billy’s Communist Rally,” Newsweek, July 24, 1967, pp. 70–71; “In Motion,” Time, July 21, 1967, pp. 60–61; J. D. Douglas, “Graham’s Rousing Red Welcome,” Christianity Today, August 18, 1967, p. 45; Christian Century, September 20, 1967, p. 1200.

  346.The Tokyo crusade. Don Hoke, interview, March 6, 1989; Ken McVety, interview, July 18, 1986; Pollock, Crusades, pp. 255–61; “The Graham Crusade,” Christian Century, February 21, 1968, pp. 240–42.

  347.Graham University. Jim Huffman, “Questions Answered, This Time about Himself,” Chicago American feature, in Oregon Journal (Portland), March 17, 1966; AP, in Charlotte Observer, October 3, 1967; untitled feasibility study for the proposed university, CN 313, Box 2, Folder 14, BGCA; BG, interview, February 27, 1987. In a notable irony, the MacArthur Foundation has underwritten the Fundamentalism Project, a major study of Fundamentalist ideology and culture conducted in the latter years of the 1980s.

  348.Puddleglum. Ruth Graham, It’s My Turn (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1982), pp. 62–63.

  349.BG waffles on social issues. “Evangelical Springtime,” Christian Century, April 26, 1967, p. 575, quoting an interview printed in the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Daily, February 14, 1967.

  349.BG criticizes NCC leaders. The New York Times, December 6, 1966; “I am for it!” BG paper, quoted in Religious News Service dispatch, August 24, 1967.

  349.BG backs poverty program: Scriptural warrant a crucial factor. BG, interview, March 6, 1989, and Leighton Ford, interview, March 4, 1989; “Now I’m a Convert,” AP, June 15, 1967; calls congressmen and barnstorms Appalachia, Marshall Frady, Billy Graham: Parable of American Righteousness (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979) p. 397; addresses congressmen and business leaders, June 29, 1967, Congressional Record, 90th Cong., p. 16541, quoted in Edward Lee Moore, “Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr.: An Inquiry into White and Black Revivalistic Traditions” (Ph.D. diss., Vanderbilt University, 1979), p. 198; radio program and film, letter, Robert Kintner to LBJ, June 19, 1967, Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF, LBJLA; “Problematic Congratulations,” Christian Century, September 27, 1967, p. 1213, and October 4, 1967, p. 1271; Baptist Standard, June 21, 1967, quoted in Wayne S. Bond, “The Rhetoric of Billy Graham” (Ph.D. diss., Southern Illinois University, August 1973); “We are pleased,” note, Shriver to George Christian, May 9, 1967, Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF, LBJLA.

  349.BG’s reticence re clerical pronouncements on social issues. Quoted in Cort R. Flint, with the staff of Quote magazine, Billy Graham Speaks!: The Quotable Billy Graham (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1968), pp. 105–106.

  349.LBJ carried “tremendous burden for the boys in Vietnam.” BG, interview, March 26, 1987.

  349.“Billy, if anyone asks” . . . “don’t have to convince me.” UPI, in Charlotte Observer, October 13, 1966.

  350.BG wants to visit Vietnam, seen by LBJ as “a big plus”: Memo, R. W. Komer to LBJ, August 1, 1966; Westmoreland invitation and LBJ request for report, November 28, 1966, Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF, LBJLA.

  344.Vietnam visit “might cause controversy.” Minutes, 1964–67, BGEA/London Office.

  350.BG willing to support pacification programs. AP, December 20, 1966.

  350.Only desire is to minister. Pollock, Crusades, p. 278.

  351.Near airplane accident in Vietnam. BG, interview, March 5, 1989.

  351.BG reports on the war. AP dispatches in Orlando Star, December 27, 1966; Charlotte Observer, December 28, 29, 30, 1966; and Charlotte News, December 30, 1966.

  351.BG reports to LBJ. BG, oral history by Monroe Billington, October 12, 1983, AC 84–76, LBJLA; Memo, Joseph Califano to Marie Fehmer, January 20, 1967, Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF, LBJLA; AP, in Charlotte Observer, February 1, 1967; Dale Herendeen, “Graham Preaches Peace in Vietnam,” Christianity Today, January 20, 1967, pp. 36–37; “Danger on the Home Front,” Christian Century, January 25, 1967, pp. 99–100.

  352.Slight pro-administration stance in public statements. “Not What He Meant,” Christian Century, March 29, 1967, p. 411; radio program summarized in memo, Loyd Hackler to George Christian, April 28, 1967, Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF, LBJLA; half-hour color film, Billy Graham on Vietnam, produced by Lester Harmon (Wyncote, Pa.: Battle Advertising, 1967), briefly described in document located in Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF, LBJLA. The Christian Century’s assertion that BG “endorses the war in Vietnam as a holy enterprise” appeared in an editorial, “Danger on the Home Front,” January 25, 1967, p. 99.

  352.BG scolds Martin Luther King, Jr. Christian Century, May 17, 1967, p. 645, quoting an address by the evangelist in Philadelphia.

  352.White House wants BG to “speak out” on draft lottery. Memo, Fred Panzer to LBJ, March 10, 1967, Box 227a (“Billy Graham”), WHCF LBJLA.

  352.BG defends Vietnam elections. Hour of Decision, September 3, 1967, reprint in Folder EX CO 312, Box 81 (1967), LBJLA.

  352.BG not brainwashed. UPI, Charlotte Observer, September 10, 1967.

  353.“I hope my son . . . give his life.” BG felt patriotism demanded that a young man accept the call to war but did not insist that actual combat be required. “I think when our nation makes a commitment,” he said, “right or wrong, I have a responsibility to my nation.” Still, noting that “we have these gigantic bases at Can Ranh Bay and Da Nang and Bien Hoa and all these places,” he pointed out that there were many places a person could serve if his conscience did not allow him to fight. Press conference, WFGW Radio, Black Mountain, North Carolina, March 12, 1968, in CN 313 (Van Kampen Collection), Box 2, Folder 20, BGCA.

  353.“I think athletics. . . . spiritual renaissance.” Bob Myers, Charlotte News, September 20, 1968.

  353.Vietnam safer than highways. Flint, Billy Graham Speaks! p. 15.

  353.BG’s 1968 Christmas visit to Vietnam. Letters, BG to LBJ, November 18, 1968 and January 3, 1969, Folder EX F05, Box 45, LBJLA; Charlotte Observer, November 28, and December 30, 1968, January 6, 1969; Pollock, Crusades, p. 277; “Questions Regarding Vietnam, Social Involvement, Race Relations,” Memo to Executive Committee Members and Pastors, BG European Crusade, Berlin (for 1970 crusade), December 2, 1969, CN 19 (Ferm Papers), Box 6, Folder 44 (Misc., December 1969–March 1970), BGCA.

  354.LBJ’s work habits. BG, oral history, LBJLA.

  354.LBJ’s compassion. BG, interview, March 25, 1987; oral history (interview by Monroe Billington), October 12, 1983, AC 84–76, LBJLA.

  355.LBJ’s expectation of death affects decision not to run. BG, interview, March 25, 1987; oral history, LBJLA. George Christian, Johnson’s secretary, gave a similar account of Johnson’s d
ecision in George Christian, “The Night Lyndon Quit,” Texas Monthly, April 1988, pp. 109, 168–69.

  355.BG talks to LBJ about the state of his soul. BG, interview, March 26, 1987.

  355.LBJ’s funeral plans. BG, interview, March 26, 1987; some details furnished by Grady Wilson, interview, March 1, 1987. Johnson perhaps hoped that BG would convey a more positive image of him to the press than he himself had been able to project. “I think President Johnson had a great difficulty in communicating on television,” Graham observed. “He once told me when we were sitting alone watching a sunset down in Texas that television is what had killed him politically.” BG, oral history.

  Chapter 22: Nixon Revived

  356.BG encourages Nixon to run. John Pollock, Crusades: 20 Years with Billy Graham (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1969), p. 286; Flora Rheta Schreiber, Good Housekeeping, July 1968, quoted in Pollock, Crusades, p. 286; Marshall Frady, Billy Graham: Parable of American Righteousness (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), pp. 446–47; Christianity Today, July 17, 1968; “Notes from the News,” Christian Century, July 24, 1968; and Milton Karr, “Unbecoming Silence” (letter), Christian Century, January 8, 1969, p. 51.

  356.“I would go that far . . . not the party.” AP, December 30, 1967.

  357.BG responds to King’s assassination. CN 24 (BG’s Press Conferences), Tape 8, BGCA; editorial, Decision, August 1968, p. 2; Southland Times, June 4, 1968, quoted in Jerry Bed Hopkins, “Billy Graham and the Race Problem, 1949–1969” (Ph.D. diss., University of Kentucky, 1986), p. 150; BG, interview, February 27, 1987.

  357.Jones and Bell urge BG to make film. Letter to BG, May 1, 1968; response, Forrest Layman to Jones, May 6, 1968, CN 12, Box 6, Folder 12, BGCA. Layman was manager of the BGEA office in Atlanta, which oversaw BG and associate evangelist crusades.