Billy Graham's America

摘要

BILLY and I hit New York City at the same time, the summer of 1957. Henwas 38 and about to clinch his reputation as the premier evangelist inntwentieth-century America. I was twelve and about to taste freedom.nBut not quite yet. Without my permission, my parents packed themselves andnme into a steamy subway to go down to Madison Square Garden to hear thenGreat Man preach. I remember that he was witty and charismatic and at the endnof the sermon thousands surged forward to give or recommit their lives tonChrist. Beyond that, nothing stuck. Soon our first family vacation to the BignApple was finished, and we headed back to the quiet of a small town innsouthwest Missouri. As a kid, I never could figure out what the big whoop overnGraham was all about. I soon realized, however, that Graham’s corenconstituents—the millions of preponderantly white, middle-class, moderatelynconservative Protestants we might call “Heartland Americans”—did not sharenmy puzzlement. They knew exactly what the big whoop was all about.n2