William Franklin Graham, affectionately known as Billy Graham, was an American Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 preaching in large indoor and outdoor rallies; sermons were broadcast on radio and television, some still being re-broadcast today.
Billy Graham was chaplin to several Presidents; he was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson . During the civil rights movement, he began to support integrated seating for his revivals and crusades; in 1957 he invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to preach jointly at at revival meetings in New York City.
