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THE PETER TOMASSI ESSAY turning apolitical to stay political billy graham, evangelical religion, and the vietnam war Grace Zhang, University of Chicago (2014) ABSTRACT This essay explores the intersection between Evangelicalism and foreign policy in the context of the Vietnam War. As a handle into the topic, it focuses on examining how Billy Gra- ham, a prominent religious actor, negotiated the public sphere and private halls of power in order to influence politics, and specifically the American foreign policy decision to intervene in Vietnam. More than just a religious figure, Graham was a political actor who was able to adapt to a changing political climate by shrewdly turning to an apolitical message in the public sphere in order to sustain his political role in the private sphere. Within the White House, Graham practiced a unique and masterfully subtle style of ‘friendship politics.’ He cultivated a level of intimacy with President Johnson and Nixon unmatched by any other religious leader at that time and often leveraged this connection to influence foreign policy. By examining the political maneuvers of a man at the forefront of Evangelical Christianity, this paper aims to shed light on how a religious group sought to find, and found, its way into the White House, a platform that was used to nudge diplomatic decisions towards the Calvary. nce described as “the closest thing as supporting you and telling the people what to a White House Chaplain,” a dedicated man you are. You are now getting prominent American Evangelical some unjust criticism, but remember that the most criticized men in American history were PreacherO William F. (Billy) Graham shared personal those whose names shine brightest in history… connections with every American president from also remember they crucified Christ within Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Relations between three years after He began his public ministry. Preacher and president were particularly warm over It is what God thinks about our actions and the course of the Vietnam War during the Johnson what history will say a 100 years from now that and Nixon era, as suggested by frequent letters counts…the Communists are moving fast toward of correspondence, telephone conversations, and their goal of world revolution. Perhaps God brought you to the stop the Kingdom for such overnight White House visits. These exchanges often an hour as this – to stop them. In doing so, you detailed Graham’s advice and personal support for could be the man that helped saved Christian the president as well as his policy decisions. civilization.”1 On July 11, 1964, Graham wrote a private letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson in which he voiced Yet, only four days earlier, when Graham was his support for U.S. escalation of the war against asked in public to comment on the morality of the communism in Vietnam by painting the president as Vietnam War at a press conference in Ohio, he a Christ-like figure who was to save Christendom: portrayed himself as firmly apolitical: “My dear Mr President, What do I think of Viet Nam I think I am as confused as most of the rest of us are but in … I do not know whether you have seen some of studying these things we must realize that very the newspaper articles where I have been quoted few of us really know all the facts…And I think it billy graham, evangelical religion, and the vietnam war is very easy for some of us on the outside to give towards intervention, an action he believed to be simple answers to complex problems, and it’s not more efficacious. 2 quite as easy. How Graham negotiated his political role illuminates a moment in time when a religious Why did Graham maintain an apolitical front group attempted to assert itself on diplomatic in public while playing a political role in encouraging decisions. Though the subject of this study may the war in Vietnam in his private interaction with be Billy Graham, he is not to be seen as merely the president? Moreover, such a neutral public stance an individual actor, but rather a conduit by which on Vietnam in the 1960s lay in stark contrast to his organized Evangelicalism courted political influence. openly anti-communist, pro-intervention message He is representative of the movement for three main during the Korean War in the 1950s. Graham had reasons. First, Graham’s pro-war stance was not an then publicly labeled the communists as “disciples of independent view, but one rooted in biblical theology Lucifer [that have] slaughtered millions of innocent advocated by the greater Evangelical community. persons” and argued that American military strength Second, Graham was not working alone, but had the 3 was necessary for world peace. What caused this backing and support of the Billy Graham Evangelistic shift from political to apolitical in the public sphere? Association (BGEA), formed in 1950 to support the This paper examines how Graham, a religious evangelist’s crusade planning. Third, Billy Graham actor, negotiated the public and private halls of power was considered a prominent leader of Evangelicalism in order to influence politics, and specifically, the in America, if not the face of the movement. A New American foreign policy decision to intervene in York Times article once proposed, “If Evangelicals Vietnam. More than just a religious figure, Graham wanted to know where the movement was at any was a political actor who shrewdly turned to an moment, the only sure guide was to look to where apolitical message in public in order to sustain his Graham is.” 4 Hence, to gain an insight into how political role in the private realm. The 1950s was Evangelicals attempted to shape foreign policy in characterized by an atmosphere of public religiosity, Vietnam, it seems an appropriate choice to examine which allowed Graham, a rising Evangelical figure, to Graham and his political strategies. speak openly on political issues with little criticism. Conventional accounts of US diplomatic Moreover, this decade also mapped onto strident history focus mainly on realist assumptions and McCarthyism, providing a larger rhetorical space for offer balance-of-power, geo-strategic and economic Graham’s overheated political message. In contrast, explanations for intervention overseas. However, the 1960s saw America’s post-war religious fervor there has been a recent pushback in scholarship become more subdued, and loud McCarthyite anti- suggesting that such traditional interpretations communism similarly quieted down. The zeitgeist of cannot fully account for why America went to war. the sixties was marked by increased secularization The presumed separation between church and state and war weariness. On the issue of U.S. intervention has led many scholars to dismiss that religion has overseas, a single anti-communist, pro-war stance a role to play in U.S. politics, let alone geopolitics. no longer dominated public opinion. In its place However, this essay proposes that its role in shaping was a range of divisive and divergent opinions. This statecraft is one that is worth exploring. Specifically, change in societal climate saw Graham moving along by examining the political maneuvers of a man at the with the times, as he simultaneously shifted from forefront of Evangelical Christianity, this paper aims vocal anti-communism to a public neutral stance to shed light on how a religious group found its way that maintained a focus on converting individuals to into the White House. Christianity. In keeping above the fray, the Preacher Current scholarship on Billy Graham is largely (Graham) avoided being perceived as violating the journalistic or biographical in nature, focusing on separation of church and state whilst sustaining his his impact on the Evangelical movement and social popularity and authority among an increasingly ethics, but is less interested in his relationship to cynical American public. Navigating his public and political power.5 Scholars during the Nixon era treat private platforms of power, the Preacher consciously Graham as a spokesman for the ‘silent majority’ and retreated from openly airing his support for war so an advocate for civil religion. A recent work by Steven that he might privately encourage the presidents 7 columbia university journal of politics & society Miller examines Graham’s presumed constituency directed and motivated by the Devil himself in the South and argues that southern politicians who has declared war against Almighty God… and people alike had looked to him for regional The Fifth columnists, called Communists, are more rampant in Los Angeles than any other leadership on matters of desegregation and civil 6 city in America…In this moment I can see the rights. Yet, Graham’s influence on policy seemed to judgment hand of God over Los Angeles, I can have extended beyond national boundaries. More see judgment about to fall.7 than just a phenomenon situated within the context of Cold War religiosity or the origins of American Because of the reported conversion of Evangelicalism, Graham was a shrewd political actor several famous Hollywood personalities, the who moved with the times. campaign caught the attention of national and even This essay is organized around three broad international media.8 An advertisement in the Los strokes of argument: political context, political style, Angeles Daily News on October 26, 1949 printed and political complexity. The first section situates a picture of a young Preacher charismatically Graham in the historical and political context of a stabbing his finger at the sky with Bible in hand and larger Evangelical movement. The second section proclaimed 5,000 conversions after “Billy Graham’s focuses on Graham’s political style, examining 5th Sin-Smashing Week.” the shifting public and private dimensions of the Following the end of the World War, Neo- Preacher’s political and moral interventions.

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