Billy Graham statue for U.S. Capitol to be unveiled next week

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 9:13 PM EDT, May 10, 2024


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham set to stand inside the U.S. Capitol to represent North Carolina will be unveiled next week in a ceremony.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, other congressional members and the family of the Charlotte-born evangelist are expected to attend unveiling of the 7-foot (2.1-meter) tall bronze statue on Thursday in the National Statuary Hall, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said in a news release.

The North Carolina General Assembly approved legislation in 2015 asking a congressional committee to eventually approve a likeness of Graham for display in the hall. Rules say a person’s statue can only be installed posthumously. Graham, who lived most of his adult life in Montreat, died in 2018 at age 99.

Each state gets two statues. The Graham statue will replace one of early 20th-century Gov. Charles Aycock, who, while known as an education advocate, has fallen from favor because of his ties to the white supremacy movement at the time.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/billy-graham-statue-capital-ceremony-ec14b84226662fb265ae9c721bcbf2f1

[jimfields33]

1. This is the second statue they are putting up this week. They are going to have tons of them.

[FarPoint]

2. Excuse me....

while I throw up!

[twodogsbarking]

15. He's dead. We've got that going for us.

[FarPoint]

29. Yes...

Focus on the positives...

[underpants]

3. So they are putting up a statue of an anti-Semitic now?

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/thomas-jefferson-street/articles/2018-02-28/dont-forget-billy-grahams-anti-semitic-turn-with-richard-nixon

[lastlib]

48. Well, at least it's not .....

(whisper: Jesse Helms.....let's not give anybody ideas.....)

[SoFlaBro]

52. I have ZERO fucking patience for a goddamn anti Semite. I can't stand some shitty, full-of-hate, half-dead motherfucker.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. OK, a white supremacist is being replaced by a Jew Hater.

Billy Graham’s difficult legacy: Pro-Israel in public, deriding Jews in private

US evangelist, who died Wednesday, urged Israeli leaders in 1967 not to yield to diplomatic pressure, championed Russian refuseniks, but his anti-Semitism revealed in Nixon tapes

https://www.timesofisrael.com/billy-grahams-difficult-legacy-pro-israel-in-public-deriding-jews-in-private/

[lonely bird]

34. Such is the nature of the RW religionists

They love themselves some Israel and hate Jews.

They want anything that could hasten the “End Times” with Jews either converting or dying.

I suggest People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn.

[jvill]

5. So they're replacing one racist with another - very on-brand.

n/t

[paleotn]

6. Religious types and their idol worship.

Like a lot of religious leaders, he may not have personally believed much of the bullshit he was selling. But it paid well. Very well. So he kept doing it.

[bringthePaine]

7. can't figure out why NC is such a haven for this shit

[Think. Again.]

10. A majority of rightwingers?

[Lonestarblue]

8. Yuck! I

[Think. Again.]

9. Good, North Carolina's shame should be easily mocked by all.

[Timeflyer]

11. Gross. The separation of church and state is shrinking, and Talibangelicals love that.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. This is the best N Carolina can do?

Andy Griffith was from their state, as was Edward Murrow, the newsman that has a award in his name.
They could have honored Thelonious Monk, famed Jazz artist, or NASCAR founding member Junior Johnson.
Among those who could read was author Thomas Wolfe and Charles Kuralt. They could have gone with Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon.

But no! They pick a religious whack who looked down his pious nose at most of the country that didn't fund his extravagant lifestyle. Maybe North Carolina is just waiting for WWE founder Vince McMahon to die.

[Midnight Writer]

16. I reckon if the Christo-fascists ever saw Andy Griffith in A Face In The Crowd

their heads would explode.

[appalachiablue]

39. Good post, thanks!

[mountain grammy]

57. Well said!

[twodogsbarking]

13. Graham Cracker.

[Freethinker65]

14. If you visited DC and the Capitol, did you ever spend time looking at the State statues?

I certainly didn't. I have been to DC three times in my life and there is so much other more interesting stuff to see and occupy your time with. I am not surprised NC is wasting money on this and deliberately choosing another polarizing figure as a replacement.

I do remember, when visiting Springfield, Il, and looking at portraits of governors while my spouse was using the restroom, that there was no portrait of Rod Blagojevich! Evidently no one had come up with the donation money?

[ChazInAz]

36. Illinois state Capitol has some odd artwork inside.

The statue of Lincoln outside in front is great, though, and that of Everett Dirkson is bloody hysterical!

[myohmy2]

17. why...?

...wasn't he tricky-dick's buddy...?

...shameful...

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

18. Wow, we replaced our obscure pols from 100 years ago with Johnny Cash & Daisy Bates

We replaced them because even Arkansas residents said 'who?' and then 'why?'

20 years from now, it'll be 'Billy who?'

[Chainfire]

19. Florida may follow suit with a statue of Ted Bundy.

[LeftInTX]

25. The original Florida man!

[Shermann]

55. Whatever it takes to make liberals cry! nt

[walkingman]

20. Wow, the beginning of the GOP/Christianity political charade. Nothing to be proud of.

[LiberalFighter]

21. Violates Constitution

Separation of church and state.

[hlthe2b]

22. A racist hypocritical POS, but compared to his son? I can turn my head at this idiocy.

[lonely bird]

35. True

His son is a piece of excrement with big time daddy issues.

[RockRaven]

23. Disgusting antisemitic grifter/conman

[Demnation]

24. Oh puke.

[wryter2000]

26. What in hell did he do to make this country better?

He started the whole televangelist crap. Gag.

[twodogsbarking]

31. He died.

[wryter2000]

44. Yeah, but

He left his son behind for us.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

47. At least God took his son back! n/t

[keithbvadu2]

27. Billy Graham... Jew hater and believed Catholics are not genuine Christians

[nevergiveup]

28. I didn't know he had died.

I will need a second to collect myself..........Okay, I am fine now.

[twodogsbarking]

30. We are all struggling.

[dameatball]

56. Yes. Try to hold it together!

[Floyd R. Turbo]

32. Wrong Billy!

[The Grand Illuminist]

58. He too was an ordained pastor.

He officiated Eddie Guerrero's funeral.

[kairos12]

33. Really a statue to Elmer Gantry.

A true flimm-flamm conman.

[Scrivener7]

37. Vile man.

[LudwigPastorius]

38. Graham will bookend nicely with N.Carolina's other statue, Zebulon Vance.

...who said, in opposition to abolition:

Plainly and unequivocally, common sense says keep the slave where he is now—in servitude. The interest of the slave himself imperatively demands it. The interest of the master, of the United States, of the world, nay of humanity itself, says, keep the slave in his bondage; treat him humanely, teach him Christianity, care for him in sickness and old age, and make his bondage light as may be; but above all, keep him a slave and in strict subordination; for that is his normal condition;...

[sakabatou]

40. Part of me wishes to see the statue defaced, or go missing

[Oopsie Daisy]

41. Graham was associated with several anti-Semitic figures, including Henry Ford and Gerald L.K. Smith.

Allegations of Racism

1950s: Graham reportedly refused to speak at integrated events and preached to segregated audiences. He also defended the practice of segregation, arguing that it was "the best way to handle the race problem."
1960s: During the Civil Rights Movement, Graham was criticized for his slowness to condemn racism and for his association with segregationist politicians. However, he did eventually speak out against racism and in support of civil rights.
1980s: In a 1982 interview, Graham said that he believed black people were "more prone to violence" than white people. He later apologized for this remark, saying that it was "a terrible mistake."

Allegations of Anti-Semitism

1940s: Graham was associated with several anti-Semitic figures, including Henry Ford and Gerald L.K. Smith. He also published articles in his magazine that contained anti-Semitic rhetoric.
1960s: Graham's relationship with Israel improved after the Six-Day War in 1967. He visited Israel several times and spoke out in support of the Jewish state.
1990s: In a 1992 interview, Graham said that he believed the Holocaust was "God's punishment" for the Jewish people. He later apologized for this remark, saying that it was "a terrible mistake."

[prodigitalson]

42. ok, glad I read it before posting

i thought congress had approved and appropriated money for this when I saw the headline

If I were from NC I'd want Andy Griffith's statue representin'

[Kid Berwyn]

43. The genocidal maniac?

The Preacher and Vietnam:

When Billy Graham Urged Nixon to Kill One Million People

BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR - ALEXANDER COCKBURN
CounterPunch.org, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

There’s a piquant contrast in the press coverage across the decades of Billy Graham’s various private dealings with Richard Nixon, as displayed on the tapes gradually released from the National Archive or disclosed from Nixon’s papers. We’ll come shortly to the flap over Graham and Nixon’s closet palaverings about the Jews, but first let’s visit another interaction between the great evangelist and his commander-in-chief.

Back in April, 1989, a Graham memo to Nixon was made public. It took the form of a secret letter from Graham, dated April 15, 1969, drafted after Graham met in Bangkok with missionaries from Vietnam. These men of God said that if the peace talks in Paris were to fail, Nixon should step up the war and bomb the dikes. Such an act, Graham wrote excitedly, “could overnight destroy the economy of North Vietnam”.

Graham lent his imprimatur to this recommendation. Thus the preacher was advocating a policy to the US Commander in Chief that on Nixon’s own estimate would have killed a million people. The German high commissioner in occupied Holland, Seyss-Inquart, was sentenced to death at Nuremberg for breaching dikes in Holland in World War Two. (His execution did not deter the USAF from destroying the Toksan dam in North Korea, in 1953, thus deliberately wrecking the system that irrigated 75 per cent of North Korea’s rice farms.)

This disclosure of Graham as an aspirant war criminal did not excite any commotion when it became public in 1989, twenty years after it was written. No one thought to chide Graham or even question him on the matter. Very different has been the reception of a new tape revealing Graham, Nixon and Haldeman palavering about Jewish domination of the media and Graham invoking the “stranglehold” Jews have on the media.

On the account of James Warren in the Chicago Tribune, who has filed excellent stories down the years on Nixon’s tapes, in this 1972 Oval Office session between Nixon, Haldeman and Graham, the President raises a topic about which “we can’t talk about it publicly,” namely Jewish influence in Hollywood and the media.

Continues…

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/27/the-preacher-and-vietnam-when-billy-graham-urged-nixon-to-kill-one-million-people/

[BidenRocks]

45. Don't! Nt

[Takket]

46. "ties to the white supremacy movement at the time"

Graham is not much of an improvement.

[barbtries]

49. that disgusts me.

so much about this sick country does at this point.

[mahina]

50. Oh brother!

I hope King Kamehameha kicks his statue ass

[Ponietz]

51. Mississippi STILL has Jefferson Davis

South Carolina has John C. Calhoun
Louisiana has Huey Long
😩

[Permanut]

53. The Jew hater (side note: Jesus was a Jew)

unleashed Franklin on the world, and also unleashed daughter Ann Graham Lott as well

You know, that wonderful human being who informed us that terror attacks are allowed by God because of bathroom rights and evolution. Yeah, that one.

[happybird]

54. Never been so disappointed

The George Clinton statue is of some unfunky old white guy from NY.

Even worse, THE George Clinton was born in NC– a much, much better choice than Billy Graham.

[tonekat]

59. Did the sculptor include fistfuls of cash in the hands?

That would be more lifelike.