I have always felt some cynicism about the man. I felt that corporate America propped him up as a way to keep the working class submissive. Just keep working hard in your miserable lives, "accept Christ" and you'll eventually be in heaven where you can escape the ennui.
My generation associated Graham with our parents. We knew what side of the generation gap he was on. He kissed up to presidents. He'd kiss up to Donald Trump today and try to rationalize away Trump's offensive personal behavior/statements. Isn't that what Franklin Graham does? Franklin doesn't pretend to embrace the wide public, he's a southern style of fundamentalist.
Billy surely strived to reach the broad public - it was his mother's milk. Imagine being able to attract a stadium full of people. Imagine being able to invite Johnny Cash and June Carter as your musical guests. Johnny and June saw that as a gold mine for themselves, I'm sure.
Yes I'm cynical. Billy Graham put forth Christ and God as our solution for everything, at a time when young men all across the U.S. had to fear getting a conscription letter. "Greetings."
Vietnam was the extremely dark backdrop for my growing-up years. So was entertainment TV on the "Big 3" networks when shows had to be crafted so as to appeal to everyone. We all now know, thanks to disclosed taped conversations, that Billy Graham blamed the Jews for much that was considered bad in entertainment. You can accurately say he was anti-Semitic.
I'll repeat what I've written before: I have had little contact with Jews in my life, and it's possible I had contact with people I didn't know were Jews. Maybe the popular resentment stems from how ambitious they are. Well, don't our local Apostolic Christian people have the same reputation? Ambition?
"They value education," my friend Ray Staley (retired from Florida State University, Tallahassee) once told me about Jewish people. Seems like a quite admirable trait. Do Jews practice exclusion? I imagine other groups within the population do so as well.
Billy Graham was notorious for kissing up to "Tricky Dick," Dick Nixon. This removes any doubt as to where he stood in the generation gap. Years later the evangelist was challenged on whether Nixon took advantage of him and his power. "I don't think he did, although some of the people around him may have," I remember him responding. Let's think of the cast of characters in Watergate. Watergate may have reflected evil intent but it also reflected sheer ridiculousness. It's almost embarrassing to see a movie or read about it because it was a phenomenon associated with the boomers' growing-up years, and with our parents - bless them despite their short-sightedness.
While most of us were planning our lives and seeking happiness, the Beltway was enmeshed in this cloak and dagger drama where the efforts of the principals didn't seem worth the trouble.
Graham didn't mince words about Jews. Let's be clear: in 1972 when yours truly was 17 years old, the great evangelist sat in a conversation with Nixon and one of those Watergate celebrities (eventually), H.R. Haldeman. Nixon raised a topic that he said couldn't be broached publicly, at least not in a palatable way. The topic was Jewish influence in Hollywood and the media. From the perspective of Nixon, Graham and their ilk, Jewish people were either in the primary roles or acting as "puppetmasters" for the front men like anchor David Brinkley. But it always came down to the Jews.
Nixon makes his point and then Graham responds: "This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain." Nixon then says "you believe that?" And Graham says "yes sir." Were they suggesting that TV fare like "The Beverly Hillbillies" were somehow subversive? TV used to be full of stuff that seemed devoid of substance, which is why Newton Minow famously used the term "vast wasteland." It's why we talked about "the boob tube."
Someone on C-Span recently commented that if you used the term "boob tube" today, people would be puzzled. Times change. Contestants on the old "Match Game" - we loved Gene Rayburn and his long microphone! - would prompt audience laughter when suggesting answers relating to excess alcoholic beverage consumption. No one laughs now.
Graham was unequivocal in his anti-Jew bias. There was no point paying attention to his later apology, given when his health was deteriorating. We learn today he was 99 at the time of death. It's not really "sad" when someone age 99 dies. It's something to be expected. Graham can now see if heaven really is that exhilarating escape place like for the throngs of middle class slobs who attended his pretentious rallies.
Did a cat get Graham's tongue when it came to speaking out on Vietnam? Would that have been so hard? We learned in 1989 of a memo Graham once sent to Nixon re. that war. It originated as a secret letter from Graham in 1969, sent after the evangelist met in Bangkok with missionaries from Vietnam. These "men of God" said that if peace talks fell through, Nixon should get aggressive and bomb the dikes. Graham felt that act would destroy the economy of North Vietnam.
Let's understand that Graham was supporting a policy to the president that on Nixon's own estimate would kill a million people. Would female leaders even think in these terms? Men do. Men destroy things and people, whereas women are nurturers. Were any World War II leaders or generals women?
The German high commander in occupied Holland got the death sentence for breaching dikes in Holland. He was executed. We excoriated Saddam Hussein for allegedly having chemical weapons hidden away. But didn't the U.S. use chemical weapons in Vietnam? Didn't the effects of those chemicals, like a time bomb, ruin the lives and cause the deaths of our own troops?
Billy Graham could have been described in the context of war criminal. Yeah, while the FBI surveilled Martin Luther King Jr. We are so human an animal.
When Billy Graham arrives at St. Peter's gate, I suspect he'll be evaluated like everyone else. May God have mercy on his soul. We can pray that Franklin becomes more temperate in his thoughts and opinions. Franklin kept his distance from Barack Obama. I'll take Barack Obama over the Grahams anytime.
"Have you met thy Lord, my son?"
"Have you been dead before, father?"
- Toba Beta
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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