POWER OF NETWORKS part 2

When anyone, religious or not hear the name of Billy Graham, they instantly think of no doubt the most popular preacher in America and the world. Question most never seem to ask is; How did he become so popular? Was it because Graham is the best preacher or religious speaker in the world? No one would assert this, not even Graham himself. Was it because Graham is highly gifted in persuasion, personality or power? He is gifted, but there are hundreds more just as gifted and some more and we have never heard of them. So what was it that turned the tide that allowed Billy Graham to become so popular?
It started when Billy Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles in 1949, for which he erected circus tents in a parking lot. When Graham started preaching under the tent, he received the attention of several prominent media moguls. Graham gained the attention of William Randolph Hearst when Graham spoke out against communism as an evil of the devil.
Graham's rise to national prominence came from the assistance he received from news mogul, William Randolph Hearst. Most observers believe that Hearst appreciated Graham's patriotism and appeals to youth and thought that Graham would be helpful in promoting Hearst's conservative anti-communist views. Hearst sent a telegram to his newspaper editors reading "Puff Graham" during Billy Graham's late 1949 Los Angeles crusade.
In 1949, for example, William Randolph Hearst, head of one large publishing empire, and Henry Luce, chief of another, Time, Inc., were both worried about communism and the growth of liberalism in the United States. Hearst and Luce interviewed the obscure preacher and decided he was worthy of their support. Billy Graham, an obscure evangelist holding poorly attended tent meetings in Los Angeles suddenly gained the power backing from the largest news outlets in California.
Billy Graham became an almost instantaneous national and later international figure preaching anticommunism. In late 1949, Hearst sent a telegram to all Hearst editors: “Puff Graham.” The editors did – in Hearst newspapers, magazines, movies and newsreels. “Within two months Graham was preaching to crowds of 350,000." (Ben Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, Boston, Beacon Press, 2000 6th ed., p. 39 ff).
Most agree that if it wasn’t for Hearst and Luce, Billy Graham might have become no more than a good country preacher with menial success. It is my belief that Graham has become more than a spiritual giant from his networks than from any other single natural assistance – besides the divine hand of God. Never underestimate the Power of Networks.

© By Dr Tim McClure