Billy Graham Research Paper

William “Billy” Franklin Graham, Jr was born November 7, 1918 close to Charlotte, North Carolina to loving couple William and Morrow Graham. Billy grew up on a dairy farm and was always outside. He attended Wheaton College where he met his future with Ruth Bell. They married in 1943. Billy Graham was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Western Springs, Illinois for a short time before he began his career as an evangelist. Billy Graham was an influential American in his evangelism, relationships with presidents, and involvement in civil rights. During his short time as a pastor Graham got an opportunity to take over a Christian radio show named Songs in the Night in 1944. However, a year later in 1945 he chose to move on to other endeavors but the ministry the Christian radio show continued on for years. He went on to be the president of Northwestern Bible College in Minnesota. Graham’s main ministry was being a field representative for Youth for Christ. He ran evangelism series all over the world and ran gatherings called Crusades, named after the Christian forces that fought for Jerusalem. He conducted more than 400 crusades in 185 countries across 6 continents. He was very passionate when speaking for the benefit of people and peace. He was the first evangelist to speak on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Before he retired in 2005 due to his health he shared the gospel with more than 80,000,000 people. He was a very influential figure in the Christian culture and helped direct many lives and organizations for the good. Graham used his personality and evangelism to help influence United States presidents. He was involved with presidents since President Harry Truman. Billy told press that he advised Truman to counter communism in North Korea to the dismay of Truman. Graham became close friends with President Eisenhower and counselled him to take military action to resolve the Little Rock Nine situation. His friendship with Eisenhower …show more content…
In 1953, at a Crusade in Chattanooga Tennessee, he personally removed the ropes from the congregation that were used to segregate the audience by skin color. When the ushers questioned his actions Graham’s response was, “Either these ropes stay down, or you can have the revival without me.” A colored newspaper in New Orleans Louisiana proclaimed Grahams Gospel crusades were the first time in recent times that Negros have been allowed to attend a huge public gathering without racial restrictions. Billy was also very involved with Martin Luther King Jr. Billy and King first met during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and became good friends. Graham was asked to just call him Mike, which was an honor given to few that made up King’s closest friends. Graham had even posted bail for King on several occasions. In New York, Graham invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to pray for the Garden congregation and had two African American ministers, Thomas Kilgore and Gardner Taylor, serve on the crusades executive committee. Billy Graham called the church to fight segregation, claiming that if the church is a true church then it cannot separate the message of good racial relations from the message of regeneration. Graham got his hands dirty when it came to the civil rights movement and dove himself into it as a major influence on the white Christian world towards desegregation and racial equality. Billy Graham spent his