The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accepted the apology of Billy Graham, who was recorded 30 years ago telling President Nixon that Jews had a “stranglehold” on the American media.
In a second apology issued March 16, the 83-year-old evangelist repudiated his comments and rejected anti-Semitism and racial prejudice.
“We accept the apology of Rev. Billy Graham,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Jewish organization that has long fought anti-Semitism, in a statement issued March 19. “These words, unlike his previous words uttered 30 years ago, are full of sadness and repentance. This is the Billy Graham we thought we knew.” In a previous statement, Foxman had called Graham’s comments “chilling” and “shameful.”
The evangelist issued a brief statement of apology on March 1, but followed that with lengthier written remarks.
“I don’t ever recall having those feelings about any group, especially the Jews, and I certainly do not have them now,” he said in the two-page statement. “My remarks did not reflect my love for the Jewish people. I humbly ask 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.”
Graham, who suffers from several medical ailments including Parkinson’s disease, is scheduled to hold two missions later this year, one in Cincinnati in June and another in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas in October.
“I think the resolution of this through his statement and the response by the ADL enables him to move forward in that regard,” said A. Larry Ross, Graham’s spokesman.
(RNS)
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