Evangelist says father spoke against media elite, not Jews

Evangelist Franklin Graham on Tuesday defended his father, Billy, against charges of anti-Semitism, saying comments caught on tape 30 years ago weren't aimed at all Jews but rather "a handful of elitists who had control of the major outlets at that time."

"The issue has never been Jewish people," Franklin Graham told The Observer before preaching at the YMCA Community Prayer Breakfast in Charlotte. "His concern was liberalism in that time in the media. And it's changed."

Controversy erupted last month with the release of 1972 White House tapes on which evangelist Billy Graham claimed a Jewish "stranglehold" of the media was ruining the country. "This stranglehold has got to be broken," Billy Graham told Nixon in a private conversation, "or this country's going down the drain."

Several religious groups have criticized Billy Graham for not standing up to Nixon. Billy Graham said he should have disagreed with Nixon's remarks about Jews. He asked the Jewish community "to reflect on my actions on behalf of Jews over the years that contradict my words in the Oval Office that day."

The controversy did not come up during Franklin Graham's message to the Convention Center crowd of 1,500, annually one of the nation's biggest prayer breakfast gatherings.

But beforehand, Franklin Graham said his father's comments were taken out of context. He said many other people have had private conversations they wouldn't want to be made public. "Any time you have a private conversation with anybody and it's taped and released, your confidence has been broken," he said.

Franklin Graham also noted that his father, now 83, has learned a valuable lesson from being caught on tape.

"All of our conversations," Franklin Graham said, "are being taped by God."

The YMCA's 15th annual prayer breakfast was put off until after Easter to accommodate Franklin Graham's schedule. Showing a side of his ministry that often makes him a lightning rod for debate over how aggressively to promote Christianity, he praised the Y for not being afraid to pray in Jesus' name.

"There's a lot of pressure not to mention the name of the Lord Jesus Christ," he said.

Calling himself "pretty narrow," Franklin Graham told the crowd, "Mohammed didn't die for your sins. Buddha didn't die for your sins ... Only Jesus Christ."

Franklin Graham also reported to the crowd that his mother, Ruth, 81, frail and already homebound, recently fell and fractured her pelvis. Billy Graham has gone to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., for a regular checkup.

Plans to move the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association from Minneapolis to Charlotte continue. Franklin Graham, who heads the BGEA, said he hopes to start construction on a ministry complex on Billy Graham Parkway by November and finish by December 2003. The complex will include a library/museum with Billy Graham memorabilia.

The BGEA has leased an office on Billy Graham Parkway near the site.