Q: Who was the first U.S. president to meet with Billy Graham?
A: President Harry Truman
Billy Graham later said he made a fool of himself and vowed never to make the same mistake again if he ever had the chance to meet with another person of influence.
On July 14, 1950, Mr. Graham and three of his friends met briefly with President Truman at the White House.
Mr. Graham, Cliff Barrows, Grady Wilson and Jerry Beavan were nervous and excited about the meeting and debated over what they should wear. They settled on some pastel summer suits with hand-painted ties and white buck shoes (which they had seen the president wearing while he was on vacation in Florida).
The four friends and ministry partners turned heads as they walked down Connecticut Avenue toward the White House.
“People probably thought we were a barbershop quartet out for a stroll,” Mr. Graham wrote many years later in his autobiography, Just As I Am.
They spent 20 minutes speaking with the president. At the end of their time together, Mr. Graham asked if they could pray with him, and he agreed.
The trouble started once they left the building. They were immediately surrounded by reporters who asked them to re-enact their time with President Truman for the cameras. Young and naive, they obliged.
Truman was not pleased. The media coverage made it look as though the young evangelist was making a show of the private meeting.
“The President was offended that I had quoted him without authorization,” Mr. Graham wrote, “and now I was persona non grata at the White House.”
Many years later, the two men met again at Truman’s home in Missouri. Mr. Graham apologized for the gaffe in 1950, and Truman graciously told him not to worry about it.
Billy Graham went on to meet with every U.S. president who served during his lifetime, and he was always careful to protect the privacy of those who confided in him.
