Rev. Billy
Graham, died on Wednesday at his home in Montreat, N.C. He was 99.
His death was confirmed by Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for
the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Mr. Graham had dealt with a number of illnesses in his
last years, including prostate cancer, hydrocephalus (a buildup of fluid in the
brain) and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Mr. Graham spread his influence across the country and
around the world through a combination of religious conviction, commanding
stage presence and shrewd use of radio, television and advanced communication
technologies.
A central achievement was his encouraging evangelical
Protestants to regain the social influence they had once wielded, reversing a
retreat from public life that had begun when their efforts to challenge
evolution theory were defeated in the Scopes trial in 1925.
But in his later years, Mr. Graham
kept his distance from the evangelical political movement he had helped
engender, refusing to endorse candidates and avoiding the volatile issues dear
to religious conservatives.
“If I get on these
other subjects, it divides the audience on an issue that is not the issue I’m
promoting,” he said in an interview at his home in North Carolina in 2005 while
preparing for his last American crusade, in New York City. “I’m just promoting
the Gospel.”
Mr. Graham’s reach was global, and he was welcomed even
by repressive leaders like Kim Il-sung of North Korea, who invited him to
preach in Pyongyang’s officially sanctioned churches.
