Evangelist Billy Graham passed away today at the age of 99. He would have reached his 100th birthday in November.
Graham spent nearly 60 years organizing Evangelical rallies all over the world and had the ear of a dozen U.S. Presidents.
Perhaps Graham's greatest legacy was his insistence that his congregations be desegregated. Given his Southern heritage this took no shortage of courage. Graham also introduced Martin Luther King, Jr. to a national audience when he invited him to his revival in New York City in 1957. Although Graham and King would have differences over the Vietnam War they would remain friends until King's assassination in April 1968.
Graham's reputation took a hit when the Nixon tapes were declassified in 2002 which unveiled a conversation in which both Graham and Nixon complain about Jewish control of the media. At the time, Graham issued an apology although he did not recall his remarks. I guess he didn't recall calling the Jews "the synagogue of Satan" in a 1973 conversation of Nixon which saw the light of day in 2009. If one equates the Jews with Satan and shares that view with the President of the United States, I think one is bound to remember such a thing.
In public, Graham had nothing but good things to say about Jews and Israel. But he also had nothing but good things to say about Reverend King and desegregation. Who can say what he truly thought behind closed doors? Asking such questions complicates Graham's legacy. Notwithstanding such questions may he R.I.P.
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