Billyspot » Bizarre Billy Stories

Making Out with Billy Graham

Kevin D. Hendricks — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:16:15 +0000

As a senior in high school Billy Graham found himself in a dark classroom with a female cast member during an evening rehearsal of a school play. The girl had a reputation for scoring with the boys and, as Graham recounts it, “Before I realized what was happening she was begging me to make love to her.”

But instead of rounding the bases, Graham made like Joseph and ran away.

“It never really seemed right to me to have sex with anybody but the woman I would marry,” he explained, though he also admitted, “My hormones were as active as any other healthy young male’s, and I had fantasized often enough about such a moment.”

Billy Graham on Sarah Palin (Sort Of)

Kevin D. Hendricks — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:02:32 +0000

Billy Graham has a long history of involvement in presidential politics, sometimes being less than completely neutral. But the then-89-year-old evangelist mostly stayed out of the 2008 presidential campaign. He did meet with Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the summer of 2008. In October eventual winner and Democratic candidate Barack Obama tried to meet with the evangelist but the visit was canceled due to Graham’s health.

But perhaps the under-reported story is how Billy Graham felt about the vice-presidential candidate and Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. According to Gigi Graham, Billy’s oldest daughter, the evangelist was fond of Palin:

“He’s a typical man. I don’t care if he’s 90 years old, he thought that she is so pretty,” Gigi Graham said. “He loves a pretty woman.”

The comment has little context and is buried in an article about Billy Graham turning 90, but it’s still bizarre. It’s also sad that the comment continues the widespread emphasis on Palin’s looks instead of her politics. Hopefully it’s more an out-of-context joke on Gigi’s part.

Billy Graham: Skinny-Dipping with the President

Kevin D. Hendricks — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:55:44 +0000

There are plenty of stories about Billy Graham interacting with presidents. He’s had personal encounters with every president going back to Harry Truman, detailed in the book The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House. But two of my favorite details involve Graham going for a swim. The first, and best, has to be the minor mention that Billy Graham went skinny-dipping with President Lyndon Johnson:

“After a visit in the Oval Office, Johnson proposed a swim in the White House pool. That no one had brought a bathing suit was no deterrent; in years to come the president would often interrupt meetings to suggest and swim and needle anyone who was reluctant to strip naked and dive in a baptism in intimacy.”

A TIME magazine article described it as “an encounter that included both prayer and skinny-dipping in the White House pool.”

The second best swimming with the president story has to be from 1979 when Graham borrowed a pair of white swimming trunks from George H.W. Bush. After lunch Graham walked back to the condo alone for a nap and inadvertently walked onto a Mexican naval base. An armed guard stopped Graham and detained him for trespassing. With no identification, wearing nothing but borrowed swim trunks and facing a language barrier, Graham had a hard time explaining what he was doing. The armed guard ordered Graham to sit down on a bench until a superior officer could sort it out.

The officer eventually released the world famous evangelist, telling him to walk home barefoot on a hot sidewalk. When Graham finally returned to the condo he realized the bench he’d sat on had been freshly painted. Two green stripes crossed the seat of Bush’s swimsuit.

Graham could never get the swim trunks clean and Bush laughed it off, saying the sacrifice was worth it. Barbara Bush joked that the incident proved “unfortunate things happen even to God’s chosen people.”