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Evangelists are perhaps not much of a HN thing, but Graham was a legitimately interesting world figure. Wikipedia describes him as a "close friend" to both LBJ
by majos 9y ago
Evangelists are perhaps not much of a HN thing, but Graham was a legitimately interesting world figure. Wikipedia describes him as a "close friend" to both LBJ and Nixon, with the latter relationship including Graham's suggestion of the following to Nixon:
"A secret thirteen-page letter (released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration in April 1989) was written on April 15, 1969, by White House Chaplain Billy Graham to U.S. President Richard Nixon in which Graham encouraged Nixon to utilize a military campaign to bomb dikes across North Vietnam should the Paris Peace Talks fail to reach a negotiated settlement of the U.S. war in Southeast Asia. Graham had developed his dike bombing strategy during an earlier business meeting in Bangkok with his evangelists assigned to Southern Vietnam. Graham later told Nixon that this proposed escalation of the war in Southeast Asia was a plan that 'could overnight destroy the economy of North Vietnam' by employing 'tens of thousands of North Vietnamese defectors to bomb and invade the North.' Estimates from the Nixon administration concluded that such a military aerial bombing campaign against dikes in North Vietnam would have killed approximately one million North Vietnamese."
I'm not bringing this up to smear a guy who's recently died. It's just fascinating to me that the same person who's perhaps the most effective (and, by all appearances, genuine) evangelist ever would also have opinions on the right kind of bombing tactics to force a military agreement by crippling civilian infrastructure.
- cageface 9y agoThis doesn't seem all that surprising. A lot of evangelicals seem to have a distinctly unchristian attitude.
- aaronchall 9y agoJesus wasn't violent, but he was not entirely a pacifist either: - He drove out money changers from the temple with ropes as whips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleansing_of_the_Temple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleansing_of_the_Temple - He said, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_10#Verse_34 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_10#Verse_34 - He said, "and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sell_your_cloak_and_buy_a_sword https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sell_your_cloak_and_buy_a_swor... There are a lot more counter-examples, but we tend to forget he did the above. ------ I'm sad that this article was flagged, but if it's going to cause regulars on Hacker News to make mean-spirited comments about Billy Graham, I suppose it's for the better.
- donquichotte 9y agoInteresting! It would appear that religiousness and impirialistic warmongering make a splendid match. Of course, we must not forget that that was the time when a completely insane Nixon proposed nuking North Vietnam.
- ixtli 9y agoI came to this thread to try and find the "hacker news-acceptable" way of saying he was an utterly horrible person and you've delivered :)
- ASalazarMX 9y ago>a completely insane Nixon proposed nuking North Vietnam Knowing someone sane held back the insane leaders of each superpower gives me hope for the future. If humanity was truly hopeless, we wouldn't be here.