1918-
Evangelist

Famous for Crusades.

By the end of the 1950s William Franklin Graham, better known as Billy, had become the most famous revivalist in the world. His effective presentation of evangelical Christianity in his "crusades" made him one of the leading figures in the revival of religious fervor in the postwar period.

Early Life.

Born in North Carolina to a family of dairy farmers, Graham first began preaching in 1938 in Florida. He was ordained in 1939 as a Southern Baptist minister and spent the next few years studying at Wheaton Bible College in Illinois and ministering at the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois. From 1944 through 1947 he was chief preacher at a series of "Youth for Christ" rallies conceived by Minneapolis, Minnesota, bookshop owner George W. Wilson.

Cold War Preaching.

Graham burst onto the national stage when his Los Angeles revival of 1948 received the attention...