Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South (Politics and Culture in Modern America)
Billy Graham, prominent evangelist, is reintroduced here for the important role he played in creating the latter-day American South. Miller studies Graham's behavior and rhetoric within the overlapping themes of religion, politics, and race during the decades since 1950 and Graham's part in the story of the post-civil rights South. Miller relates Graham's evangelical universalism, spread through his signature crusades, containing clear political meanings such as acceptance of existing civil rights laws, condemnation of racial violence, and dismissal of the need for further protests or legislation. Not everyone agreed with him, but Graham did muster regional support for political realignment, especially from Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. Graham's career spanned decades, and his role as a political and ministerial counselor to political leaders well positioned him quietly to influence political, religious and cultural trends and ease racial tensions. Recommended for political science collections in academic libraries.—Leo Kriz, West Des Moines Lib.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.