Billy Graham: Influential leaders react to his death

A Classic Message from Billy Graham: The Power of the Risen Christ By Agencies – News of the death of renowned Rev. Billy Graham has made shockwaves across...

A Classic Message from Billy Graham: The Power of the Risen Christ

By Agencies – News of the death of renowned Rev. Billy Graham has made shockwaves across much of the United States and religious world alike. Graham, who’s sermons were broadcast in churches around the country, died Wednesday morning at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, his nonprofit organization announced. He was 99.

But Graham was also an influential voice at the top levels of the political world for decades. His relationship with American presidents dated back to Harry Truman. He was close to Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, and President George W. Bush has credited a talk he had with Graham in the 1980s with inspiring his faith in God and helping him quit drinking.

Graham was also close to Ronald Reagan and was, according to the Los Angeles Times, one of the few people who was invited to visit him as his Alzheimer’s symptoms worsened. Politicians whose spiritual lives were touched by Graham were quick to respond to the news of his death Wednesday.

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