Billy Graham

<p>William Franklin Graham Jr. was born on November 7, 1918, on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina. Converted at age sixteen during a revival meeting led by Mordecai Ham, Graham pursued theological training at Florida Bible Institute and graduated with a degree in anthropology from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1943, where he met his beloved wife and lifelong counselor, Ruth Bell.</p><p>Graham rose to national prominence during his 1949 Los Angeles Crusade, scheduled for three weeks but extended to eight weeks due to overflowing crowds and national media coverage. Known for his charismatic baritone delivery, open Bible gestures, and signature phrase 'The Bible says,' Graham pioneered modern stadium evangelism through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), utilizing radio (The Hour of Decision), television broadcasts, and feature films.</p><p>A critical moral turning point came in 1953 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when Graham personally removed the segregation ropes separating Black and white audience members, refusing to preach to segregated audiences thereafter. In 1957, during his sixteen-week Madison Square Garden crusade in New York, he invited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to join him on the pulpit to lead opening prayer. Over six decades, Graham preached behind the Iron Curtain, in post-apartheid South Africa, and across Asia and Europe. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1983) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1996), passing away on February 21, 2018, at age ninety-nine, honored with lying in honor in the US Capitol rotunda.</p>