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Billy Graham
1918–2018; LA crusade 1949; Seoul 1973· Person· People
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
American Baptist evangelist who preached in person to an estimated 215 million people in more than 185 countries over six decades.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Born in 1918 near Charlotte, North Carolina, Graham became famous through an eight-week 1949 Los Angeles tent 'crusade.' He used stadiums, radio and television, ending each sermon with an invitation to come forward and 'make a decision for Christ.' He co-founded Christianity Today magazine (1956), counseled presidents from Truman to Obama, and from 1953 refused to hold segregated meetings. His 1973 Seoul crusade drew his largest crowd. He died in 2018, aged 99.
Why it matters
He became the face of American evangelicalism, steering it away from fundamentalist separatism toward a broad, media-savvy movement with global reach.
Life, legacy and sources
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association records, his autobiography Just As I Am (1997), news coverage, and the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College. Audience totals are the association's estimates.
Questions and debates
How many 'decisions' became lasting faith is unknown. His closeness to presidents, and anti-Jewish remarks caught on Nixon's 1972 tapes, for which he apologized in 2002, remain debated.
Connections (3)
▸Billy Graham carried on the revival style of The Great Awakenings (revivals)Historical record
The connection
Graham carried on the revival tradition of the Great Awakenings: George Whitefield's open-air preaching, Charles Finney's 'new measures' and public call to come forward, then D. L. Moody and Billy Sunday. Graham's 'invitation' was Finney's altar call, scaled up with stadiums, radio and television.
When and where
Revivals in Britain and America from the 1730s; Finney in upstate New York in the 1820s–30s; Graham's crusades from Los Angeles in 1949 onward.
Historical evidence
Historian William McLoughlin traced the line in Modern Revivalism: Charles Grandison Finney to Billy Graham (1959); Graham acknowledged his debt to earlier revivalists.
Questions and debates
Some historians question whether the 1950s American religious boom was a true 'awakening' or a Cold War civil religion that Graham's crusades rode.
▸Billy Graham drew a million in Seoul during South Korea's church boomHistorical record
The connection
Graham's 1973 Seoul crusade on Yeouido Plaza drew an estimated 1.1 million people to its final service, the largest crowd of his career; Baptist pastor Billy Kim (김장환) interpreted. Many thousands came forward, and the event built momentum for mass evangelism such as Explo '74 on the same plaza.
When and where
Yeouido Plaza, Seoul, May 30 to June 3, 1973, under Park Chung-hee's government, organized with Korean churches.
Historical evidence
News coverage, photographs, and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Korean church records; the crowd figures are estimates.
Questions and debates
Debated: whether the crusade caused growth or reflected a boom already underway, and whether it lent legitimacy to Park's authoritarian Yushin regime.
▸Billy Graham moved evangelicals beyond Fundamentalism and the Scopes trialHistorical record
The connection
Raised a fundamentalist, Graham briefly attended Bob Jones College, but he chose to work with mainline Protestants. When the Protestant Council of New York sponsored his 1957 crusade, separatists such as Bob Jones Sr. and Carl McIntire denounced him. The break defined a cooperative 'evangelicalism' distinct from separatist fundamentalism.
When and where
New York, Madison Square Garden crusade, May–September 1957; alongside the National Association of Evangelicals (1942), Fuller Seminary (1947) and Christianity Today (1956).
Historical evidence
Fundamentalist papers such as John R. Rice's Sword of the Lord attacked Graham openly; historians such as George Marsden document the split.
Questions and debates
Graham kept conservative beliefs about the Bible, so historians debate whether the split was over doctrine or over cooperation, style and culture.