JUNE 14, 2004
UPDATED AUG. 19, 2007
UPDATED FEB. 15, 2008

LEGACY
Billy Graham: America's pastor

At age 89, the Rev. Billy Graham has advised nine U.S. presidents and presented more than 400 crusades in more than 185 countries. He has left an indelible mark on the country's religiosity, and many believe that no minister will ever again be so popular with so many Americans.

Jump to:
Angles for reporters
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association resources
Biographers
Graham's family
Scholarly resources on evangelism
Official web sites
Books by Graham and his family
Awards and honors

Angles for reporters
Billy Graham has made a mark in many areas. Resources are listed throughout this issue of ReligionLink.

Message: Graham is known as an emotional preacher who stuck with a simple message about Jesus' ability to save souls.

Clean house: Graham has consistently won praise for his high ethical standards, both in his personal conduct and in his ministry. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has consistently been rated as one of the most efficiently run religious charities.

Global ministry: Graham is an international evangelist who has preached to people in more than 185 countries and whose ministry provides resources in several languages.

Music: In addition to traditional music, Billy Graham is known for embracing contemporary Christian music before many others did. Many contemporary Christian artists who have participated in his crusades, including Michael W. Smith and Toby McKeehan, can talk about his influence.

Race:Graham is known for welcoming people of different ethnicities and condemning racism. Read a newspaper column posted at BillyGraham.org in which he calls racism a sin.

Politics: Graham has been called a "pastor to presidents" because he has been known as a spiritual adviser to nine presidents over 50 years. That has brought both praise and criticism, with some saying that he allowed himself to be used for political purposes or that he failed to speak out strongly about moral crises in the White House. Graham has never officially endorsed a presidential candidate, but many say he has come very close with his praise of George W. Bush.

Ecumenism: Graham has welcomed people of different denominations at his crusades, including Roman Catholics. That has caused some to call him as a champion of ecumenism and others to criticize him for compromising his fundamentalist roots. Although Graham remains hugely popular with the American public, many evangelical leaders have distanced themselves from him, particularly at a time when there are deep doctrinal divides among Christians in this country.

Youth: Even as he became a great-grandfather, Graham continued to reach out to youth. For years he has designated one night of each crusade as a "youth night." At a time when many churches are struggling to reach young people, crowds of youths respond to Graham with respect and awe, praising his traditional message as relevant to their lives.

Judaism: Graham generated controversy when comments he made about Jews in a taped 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon surfaced. The evangelist said he didn't remember making the comments and apologized for any harm they caused. He later issued a second and stronger apology.

Film: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has produced more than 125 films, including nine major motion pictures, through World Wide Pictures, originally called Billy Graham films. Read a May 29, 2002, Charity Wire story.

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association resources
• Erik Ogren is media liaison for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte, N.C., and is contact person for all requests involving Graham or the BGEA. Contact 704-401-2117, media@bgea.org.
A. Larry Ross is president of A. Larry Ross Communications, based in Dallas, and has directed media/public relations for Graham since 1981. Contact 972-267-1111, media@alarryross.com.
• Vocalist and composer George Beverly Shea first sang for Graham on a radio program in 1943. He, with Cliff Barrows, has been the nucleus of Graham's musical ministry since the beginning of the evangelist's crusade ministry in 1949. Shea lives in Montreat, N.C. Contact 828-669-5550.
• Cliff Barrows is in charge of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Crusades and Training and is based in Charlotte, N.C. He lives in Marvin, N.C. Contact 704-401-2432.

Biographers
• TIME magazine journalists Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy are co-authors of the best-selling book The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House (2007). Contact through publicist Amber Hildebrand, 703-879-5862, or email the authors at nancyrgibbs@gmail.com or michaelrwduffy@gmail.com.
• William Martin is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Professor of Religion and Public Policy in the sociology department at Rice University in Houston, and senior scholar in the university's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. His books include A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story (William Morrow, 1991) and With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America (Broadway Books, 1996). Read a Beliefnet.com commentary he wrote regarding Graham's comments about Jews made in a 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon. Contact 713-517-4831, wcm@rice.edu or wcm@wmartin.com.
• Grant Wacker is a professor of church history at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He specializes in the history of evangelicalism, Pentecostalism and world missions. He is working on a biography to be titled Billy Graham and the Southernization of American Culture. Read his article “The Billy Pulpit: Graham’s Career in the Mainline,” published in the Nov. 15, 2003, issue of Christian Century and posted by the Web site HighBeam Encyclopedia. Contact 919-660-3462, gwacker@div.duke.edu.
• Roger Bruns, an independent scholar who recently retired from the National Archives and Records Administration, is the author of Billy Graham: A Biography (Greenwood Publishing, 2004). Bruns lives in Reston, Va. Contact 703-437-4091, CEBruns@aol.com.
• The Rev. John Charles Pollock of Devon, England, is the official biographer of Billy Graham and the author of The Billy Graham Story (Zondervan, 2003), the revised and updated edition of To All the Nations. Contact Zondervan publicists Leslie Pratt, 616-698-3345, leslie.pratt@zondervan.com or Vicki Cessna, 616-698-3214, vicki.cessna@zondervan.com.
• Gerald S. Strober and Deborah Hart Strober wrote A Day in the Life of Billy Graham: Living the Message (Square One Publishers, 2003). Contact 212-734-5656, hartstrober@iopener.net.
• British television host Sir David Frost's books include Billy Graham in Conversation with David Frost: A Candid But Objective Look at One of This Century's Most Admired - and Criticised - Public Figures (Lion Publishing PLC, 1998). Contact him through his agent, Nick Ranceford-Hadley, www.noelgay.com, in London, 020-7836 3941, nhadley@noelgay.co.
• Popular novelist Patricia Cornwell, whose books include the Kay Scarpetta mystery series, grew up down the road from Billy and Ruth Graham in Montreat, N.C. Cornwell is the author of Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham (Doubleday, 1997). She lives in Manhattan and South Carolina. Contact her through her literary agent, Esther Newberg at International Creative Management, at literary@icmtalent.com.

Graham's family
Graham’s wife of 63 years, Ruth Bell Graham, died June 14, 2007. In addition to her husband, her survivors include three daughters, two sons, 19 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Billy and Ruth Graham made their home in the mountains of North Carolina. Erik Ogren is media liaison for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte, N.C., and is contact person for all requests involving Graham or the BGEA. Contact 704-401-2117, media@bgea.org.

CHILDREN
• Franklin Graham, the fourth child of Billy and Ruth Graham, is president, first vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and president of Samaritan's Purse, a relief organization. His evangelistic festivals are listed here and here. His books include The Name (Thomas Nelson, 2002), Living Beyond the Limits: A Life in Sync With God (Thomas Nelson, 1998), and his autobiography, Rebel With A Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham (Thomas Nelson, 1995). He lives in the mountains of North Carolina. He can be contacted through his spokesman, Mark DeMoss of the DeMoss group, which is based in Duluth, Ga., 770-813-0000 ext.225, mark@demossgroup.com.
• Anne Graham Lotz is the founder and president of AnGeL Ministries, a teaching and speaking ministry based in Raleigh, N.C. She leads the “Just Give Me Jesus” women’s revivals and “Pursuing MORE of Jesus” women’s retreats. Her books include Why: Trusting God When You Don't Understand (W Publishing Group cloth, 2004). Contact 919-787-6606 or email through the Web site.
• Ruth Graham is the third child of Billy and Ruth Graham. Formerly acquisitions editor for HarperCollins/San Francisco and McCracken Press, she has her own speaking ministry and is a writer. She is the author of In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart (Zondervan Publishers, 2004) and co-author of I'm Pregnant ... Now What? (Regal Publishers, 2004). She serves on the board of Birthmothers,  which assists women facing unplanned pregnancies, and on the board of trustees of Mary Baldwin College, from which she graduated cum laude. Her book A Legacy of Love: Things I Learned From My Mother was published in 2005. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Contact 877-743-7884 or through her Web site.
• Virginia "Gigi" Graham Tchividjian is the oldest daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham. She is a speaker and author of inspirational books. She lives in South Florida. Contact Erik Ogren, media liaison for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 704-401-2117, media@bgea.org.
• Nelson Edman "Ned" Graham is the youngest of Billy and Ruth Graham's children. Formerly in pastoral ministry, he is president of East Gates International, which prints and distributes Bibles to Christians throughout the People's Republic of China. He lives in Sumner, Wash. Contact 1-800-959-3464, egmi@egmi.org.

Scholarly resources on evangelism
• Mark Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. His expertise includes American religious history. Noll previously taught at Wheaton College in Illinois, site of the Billy Graham Center. Noll's books include American Evangelical Christianity: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2000) and, as co-editor, More Money, More Ministry: Money and Evangelicals in Recent North American History (Eerdmans, 2000). Contact 574-631-7574, Mark.Noll.8@nd.edu.
• Randall Balmer is a professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University, in New York City. He was executive producer, writer and host of Crusade: The Life of Billy Graham, a PBS documentary that has been broadcast in A&E's "Biography" series. Balmer's books include, as co-author, Religion in American Life: A Short History (Oxford University Press, 2003) and Protestantism in America (Columbia University Press, 2002) and, as author, The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) and Religion in Twentieth Century America (Oxford, 2001). Contact 212-854-3292, rb281@columbia.edu.
• David Edwin Harrell Jr. is a professor emeritus at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., and has published extensively on American religious history, including a chapter on "American Revivalism from Graham to Robertson" for Modern Christian Revivals (University of Illinois Press, 1993). Contact harrede@auburn.edu.
• John G. Stackhouse Jr. is Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College, an international graduate school of Christian studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He frequently comments on religion and contemporary culture. His essay "Billy Graham and the Nature of Conversion: A Paradigm Case" is included in his book Evangelical Landscapes: Facing Critical Issues of the Day (Baker Academic, 2002). Contact 604-221-3323, jgs@regent-college.edu.
• Darryl Glenn Hart is adjunct professor of church history at Westminster Seminary California in Escondido and director of academic programs at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del. His books include Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Era of Billy Graham (Baker Book House, 2004), Refurnishing the Public Square: Religion and Public Policy in America (Woodrow Wilson Press, 2002) and That Old-Time Religion in Modern America: Evangelical Protestantism in the Twentieth Century (Ivan R. Dee, 2000). He lives in Philadelphia. Contact 302-652-4600, dhart@isi.org or dghart@earthlink.net.
• David Aikman, author and former senior correspondent for TIME magazine, profiled the evangelist in Billy Graham: His Life and Influence (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Aikman also wrote about Graham in Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Changing the Global Balance of Power (Regnery, 2003) and A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush (W Publishing Group, 2004). Aikman lives in Virginia. Contact david@davidaikman.com.
• William J. Hamel is chairman of the board at the National Association of Evangelicals, which includes 43,000 congregations from 50 member denominations, individual congregations from an additional 27 denominations and 250 parachurch ministries and educational institutions. Contact 202-789-1011.
• Robert Wuthnow is director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University and a frequently cited commentator on the sociology of religion, his specialty. He edited the Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion. Contact 609-258-5545, wuthnow@princeton.edu.

Background

Official web sites
• The web site of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has a media resources page that includes biographies and photos.
• The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., provides several archives links, including a timeline and official biography.
• Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., which Graham co-founded, has archival photos of Graham and his family available for digital transfer. Contact Anne B. Doll, director of public relations, 978-646-4141 or 978-884-1116 (after business hours), adoll@gcts.edu.

Books by Graham and his family
• Billy Graham has written 25 books, including his autobiography Just As I Am (HarperCollins, 1997), Peace With God: The Secret of Happiness (Word Publishing, 2000) and How to Be Born Again (Word Publishing, 1989).
• Ruth Bell Graham, Billy Graham's wife, wrote 14 books, including It's My Turn (Fleming H. Revell Co., 1988) and (co-authored with daughter Gigi) Prodigals (and Those Who Love Them) (Baker Book House, 1999).
• Virginia "Gigi" Graham Tchividjian has authored or co-authored at least seven books, including the memoir Passing It On: Four Generations of Graham Traditions (Word Publishing, 1993).
• Franklin Graham has authored several books, including his autobiography, Rebel With A Cause: Finally Comfortable Being Graham (Thomas Nelson, 1995).
• Anne Graham Lotz’s books include Why?: Trusting God When You Don't Understand (W Publishing Group cloth, 2004).
• Ruth Graham has also written several books, including In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart (Zondervan Publishers, 2004) and A Legacy of Love: Things I Learned From My Mother (Inspirio, 2005).

Awards and honors
• Gold Award of the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute, 1964, for contribution in race relations
• Horatio Alger Award, 1965
• The Torch of Liberty Plaque by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1969
• Honored by Morality in Media for "fostering the principles of truth, taste, inspiration and love in media," 1969
• Franciscan International Award, 1972
• Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Broadcasters, 1972
• Sylvanus Thayer Award from United States Military Academy Association of Graduates at West Point, the most prestigious award the United States Military Academy gives to a U.S. citizen, 1972
• Direct Selling Association's Salesman of the Decade award, 1975
• First National Interreligious Award, American Jewish Committee, 1977
• Distinguished Communications Medal, Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission, 1977
• Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion, 1982
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, 1983
• Billy and Ruth Graham were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1996.
• Big Brother of the Year Award, 1996
• Good Housekeeping Most Admired Men Poll, 1997, No. 1 for five years in a row and 16th time in top 10
• The first nonmusician to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame by the Gospel Music Association, 1999
• Read a profile of Graham in TIME magazine, which in 1999 named Graham one of the 100 most important people of the century.
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award, in 2000.
• Named Honorary Knight Commander of the order of the British Empire (KBE), for his international contribution to civic and religious life over 60 years, 2001.
•Since 1955, consistently named one of the Gallup Poll’s Ten Most Admired Men in the World – more than any other individual in the world.