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Both
Ruth and Billy Graham met thousands of people over the years
during their travels or at home. Most were ordinary people
who came to one of Billy's crusades; some were special friends
who made a lasting impression of them, and for whom the
Grahams made an impact as well. Some of their special friends
were famous to most Americans. Below is a list of them.
 President
George Bush and Barbara Bush
President George Bush's slogan throughout his campaign
and Presidency was "a kinder, gentler nation,"
for which he wanted to use US military strength as a "force
for good." Two most notable events during his one term
in office were the end of the Cold War, including the dissolution
of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and
the successful Gulf War. Billy and Ruth had befriended the
Bushes long before Bush became involved in national politics.
Barbara Bush and Ruth had a special relationship, and they
were quite similar in many ways--they both were devoted
to their families and were good hostesses, but they also
had a quick sense of humor and were fun and spontaneous.
President
Ronald Reagan
 President
Reagan, the 40th President, restored the nation
to prosperity and relative peace after a long period of
recession. His tax cuts introduced a new trend for succeeding
Presidents but eventually led to a huge deficit. He maintained
an anti-Communism policy, especially for Central America,
Asia, the Soviet Union and Africa. Billy Graham had known
Reagan since 1953, when he met him at a golf course in Phoenix.
When Reagan was shot, Jesse Helms, Senator of North Carolina,
asked Billy to travel to the Washington Hilton Hotel (where
the shooting occurred) and offer spiritual encouragement
and prayer. Billy also called the Hinckleys, assuring them
of his prayers for their son (the shooter).
President
Gerald Ford
 President
Ford's claim to the Presidency was indeed a troubled one:
he had been the first President to succeed a President who
resigned and to claim the office under the terms of the
Twenty-fifth amendment. He tried to curb inflation and government
intervention in public affairs. Although he typically did
not involve himself in politics, Billy encouraged Ford to
pardon former President Nixon to initiate the healing of
a divided nation. President Ford did not always agree with
Billy's choice for travel; however, he changed his mind
when he saw the thousands of people who gathered to hear
him speak.
President
Bill Clinton
 William
Jefferson Clinton enjoyed a Presidency that was covered
in international peace, economic prosperity, lower welfare
roles and crime rates and immense popularity. Despite personal
indiscretions that brought him an impeachment hearing, he
continued to be popular among the public throughout his
2 terms. For Billy Graham, President Clinton represented
a comforting presence after the bombing of the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City as he extended sympathy to survivors.
President Clinton also presented Ruth and Billy Graham with
the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor the US Congress
can bestow on an individual.
Mikhail
Gorbachev
 Mikhail
Gorbachev served as President of the Soviet Union from 1990-91
and General Secretary of the Polit Bureau of the Central
Committee, Communist Party of Soviet Union until that time.
He resigned as President in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved.
Billy and Ruth both met him during their visits to the Soviet
Union. During a reception at the Russian Embassy in December
1987, Billy noticed that during their conversations, Gorbachev
used the word "spiritual" several times as he
was talking about the need for values in his proposed reforms.
Indira
Gandhi
 Ms.
Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister of India from 1966-77 and
1980-84. While she was quite skilled in politics, her decisions
gained her many enemies, one of whom assassinated her in
1984. During Billy's 1972 trip to India, President Nixon
had asked him to speak with Prime Minister Gandhi to find
out what kind of ambassador she wanted from America. Her
subsequent answer landed Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
as the new ambassador to India.
Patricia
Cornwell
 Author
of the biography of Ruth Bell Graham, Patricia Cornwell
began her writing career as a crime reporter for the Charlotte
Observer. After winning awards for her newspaper stories,
she followed her interests to the chief medical examiner's
office in Virginia, where she worked for more than six years
as a computer analyst. In the late 1980s she began writing
novels, and her first, Postmortem (Scribners, 1990),
won the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity awards, and
the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in one year. Her other
works include Body of Evidence, All that Remains,
Cruel and Unusual, and Unnatural Exposure.
Cornwell met Ruth Bell Graham's parents, Virginia and Nelson
Bell, while she lived in Florida. When her mother moved
her and her two brothers to Montreat in 1963, when Cornwell
was 7 years old, she introduced herself to Ruth Graham.
She and Ruth began their friendship when Cornwell was 19,
and she has remained a good friend of the Grahams ever since.
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