American Legends: The Life of Billy Graham

*Includes pictures *Includes Graham's quotes about his life and work *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” – Billy Graham A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. In the 21st century, Americans are intimately familiar with televangelists and preachers with a national reputation, and their shows are ubiquitous, but in the middle of the 20th century, the phenomenon was popularized by the most famous evangelist in American history: Billy Graham. As biographer Grant Wacker put it, “By the middle 1960s, he had become the ‘Great Legitimator’. …His presence conferred sanctity on events, authority on presidents, acceptability on wars, desirability on decency, [and] shame on indecency….By the middle 1970s, many deemed him ‘America's pastor.’” By his mid-20s, Graham was a Baptist pastor in the Midwest, and throughout the 1940s, he began traveling across the country to spread his ministry and message through large gatherings that he termed “crusades.” In time, these crusades would take place in nearly 200 nations and attract hundreds of millions of people, helping catapult him to international prominence and making him a household name. In the process, Graham became a figure of political importance, not only for his outspoken stances on issues like civil rights and other social issues but because he was close to political leaders like Dwight D. Eisenhower. At the same time, he was controversial among some, including Harry Truman, who was quoted as saying “I hadn't ought to say this, but he's one of those counterfeits I was telling you about. 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.” When President Nixon’s tapes were declassified, some of Graham’s anti-Semitic comments to the president about Jews controlling the media were also made public, further tarnishing his image. Nonetheless, Graham continues to be a popular figure, and it’s estimated that his message has reached more than 2 billion people through radio, television, and other media. In conjunction with that, it’s believed that he has converted millions of people to Christianity. American Legends: The Life of Billy Graham examines the life and career of America’s most famous evangelist. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Billy Graham like never before, in no time at all.