Billy Graham was the most famous and influential Christian evangelist of the twentieth century, a preacher whose vast revival meetings and mastery of mass media carried his message to more people than perhaps any other in the history of Christianity. Born on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, he experienced a religious conversion as a teenager and was ordained a Baptist minister, soon discovering a remarkable gift for preaching.
Graham rose to national fame in 1949 with a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles that drew enormous crowds and wide press attention. Over the following decades he conducted "crusades" — great evangelistic rallies held in stadiums and arenas around the world — preaching to live audiences numbering in the millions and to many millions more through radio, television, and film.
A tall, handsome, and charismatic figure with a direct and urgent style, Graham preached a simple message of personal salvation through faith in Christ. He took his crusades across the globe, including, notably, behind the Iron Curtain, and he helped shape the modern evangelical movement in America.
Graham became a confidant and spiritual adviser to a long succession of American presidents, from Harry Truman to those of his later years, earning the informal title of "pastor to presidents." Though occasionally touched by controversy, he largely retained a reputation for personal integrity across a career of more than half a century. He continued his ministry into old age and died in 2018 at the age of ninety-nine.