The Time magazine cover story this week is on Billy Graham’s “50-year courtship of–and courtship by–11 Presidents.” Here’s an interesting clip:
“They [President George H.W. and Barbara Bush] were very grateful when he took a walk on the beach one day in 1985 with their eldest son. George W. Bush said that encounter put him on a path to a new relationship with Jesus and “planted a mustard seed” in his soul. But a few years later, he got into an argument with his mother about who exactly could and could not get into heaven. Bush maintained that only born-again Christians were eligible for entrance, as he had been learning in his Bible study; Barbara Bush disagreed and telephoned Graham to let him settle the matter. The evangelist said that while the younger Bush’s reading of the Bible might be technically correct, he warned both of them that no one should try to play God–for God alone knows who has or has not received Christ as their Saviour.”
And another:
From then on [after his crushing experience with the Nixon Administration], Graham operated below the radar as three old friends–Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton–took their turns in the Oval Office. To his critics, the pastoral was political. The left deplored his spending the night with Bush on the day the Gulf War began; the right objected to his praying at Clinton’s Inaugural. But Graham stood by them all, including his old charge George W. Bush, whom he publicly embraced on the final Sunday before the 2000 election–in Florida, of all places.
The whole article is quite fascinating.
(HT: JT)
Also, as I previously mentioned, Charles Gibson anchored a special edition of 20/20 last night called Pastor to Power: Billy Graham and the Presidents. He interviewed Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, and there were snippets from several U.S. Presidents and their wives (and even Chuck Colson, speaking about Nixon). The consensus seemed to be that Graham provided comfort and support to Presidents in times of crisis, rather than a calculated, political advantage. The reporters also explored the possibility of whether Graham ever compromised his principles for the sake of his political connections (e.g., Nixon’s antisemitism). I’m no expert on Graham’s political involvement, but IMHO Gibbs’ and Duffy’s new book seems like it would be a very interesting read.