Republicans and Evangelicals I Billy Graham and Nixon

Truce

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Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, was good friends with Richard Nixon. The two played golf and gave each other advice. Graham was the person who encouraged Nixon to run for president a second time. He also encouraged Nixon to regularly attend church, so Nixon started the first regular church service in the White House, only to make it another "it" place to be seen. But when Nixon's crimes were made public, Graham continued to support him, commenting only on the strong language used by the president.

What does it mean for Christian leaders to stand behind a corrupt president? In this episode, Chris interviews David Bruce, a historian at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

NOTE: I thought it was especially important to outline the many crimes of the Nixon administration. Today these crimes are downplayed by bad actors wishing to rewrite history. It is important to emphasize that not only were there immoral acts of shenanigans, there were real crimes perpetrated against individuals, organizations, and the American people.

Sources

• "The Surprising Work of God" by Garth M. Rosell
• An article from The Atlantic about the Pope and Mussolini
• "The Popes Against the Protestants" by Kevin Madigan
• NPR interview with Kevin Madigan
• "A Prophet With Honor" book by William Martin
• "The Invisible Bridge" by Rick Perlstein
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald
• "The Failure and the Hope: Essays of Southern Churchmen" book of essays accessed on Google Books
• New York Times article about how the Watergate break-in was financed
• Pat Buchanan hearings during the Watergate investigation
• Frost/Nixon transcript

Discussion Questions:

• Was Billy Graham being a good friend by supporting Nixon after Watergate?
• Should religious leaders maintain a certain amount of distance between themselves and people of power?
• Why do we like to see our governmental leaders as religious people?
• Was Nixon's church service in the Whitehouse wrong to be a gathering place of the rich and famous?
• How bad was the Watergate break-in? How does it change your mind about Nixon to know about the other criminal activity?

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