Billy Graham's America

Abstract

Billy and I hit New York City at the same time, the summer of 1957. He was 38 and about to clinch his reputation as the premier evangelist in twentieth-century America. I was twelve and about to taste freedom. But not quite yet. Without my permission, my parents packed themselves and me into a steamy subway to go down to Madison Square Garden to hear the Great Man preach. I remember that he was witty and charismatic and at the end of the sermon thousands surged forward to give or recommit their lives to Christ. Beyond that, nothing stuck. Soon our first family vacation to the Big Apple was finished, and we headed back to the quiet of a small town in southwest Missouri. As a kid, I never could figure out what the big whoop over Graham was all about. I soon realized, however, that Graham's core constituents—the millions of preponderantly white, middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants we might call “Heartland Americans”—did not share my puzzlement. They knew exactly what the big whoop was all about.

Religious Conversion in the Sermons of Billy Graham during the All Scotland Crusade of 1955

“…All messages demanded a decision.' 25 He reminded his readers that Graham's weekly radio programme, first broadcast in 1950 was called 'The Hour of Decision' while his monthly magazine was entitled 'Decision.' 26 The evangelist insisted upon the need for people to make a personal decision for Christ in order they would be born again.…”

Religion and the American Celebrity

“…Divisions between religious groups and celebrities exist, yet in the American context the rise of the celebrity as a commodity and the dynamics of modern religion have been inextricable. Examples of this commingling may be found in recent works describing the life and ascent of Mary Bakker Eddy, Billy Graham, Aimee Semple McPherson, Ronald Reagan, Martha Stewart, and Oprah Winfrey, all of which indicate that American religious history and charismatic celebrity are deeply collaborative through the media, style, and sentiment that comprise the collective American public sphere (Gottschalk, 2005;Wacker, 2009;Sutton, 2007;Kleinknecht, 2009;Leavitt, 2001;Lofton, 2008). Celebrity culture informs the religious imaginations of its consumers, and the consumption of celebrity increasingly formats expectations of religious leadership and its distribution and communication.…”