Wacker, Grant. One Soul at a Time: The Story of Billy Graham. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 2019.
One Soul at a Time by Grant Wacker told the complete life story of Billy Graham. The book was organized into four parts that corresponded to four stages of Graham’s life: “Young Barnstormer,” “Leading Evangelist,” “Priestly Prophet,” and “Senior Statesman.” Wacker portrayed Graham as a charming, handsome man who learned as much as he taught throughout his lifetime. Wacker focused on Graham’s influence in politics, his moral integrity, and his friendliness and approachability. Although Graham made mistakes throughout his life, Wacker examined them with grace and allowed Graham’s apologies to resonate at the end of One Soul at a Time.
Billy Graham was famous for many reasons, but one of them was for meeting with every sitting president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Wacker showed the growth of Graham’s wisdom through his relationship with the presidents. After many years of asking through letters, Graham met with President Truman in 1950. After his conversation with the president, Graham recited everything the two discussed to the reporters waiting outside. Truman was livid, and Graham was not invited back. Since that experience, Billy Graham knew to keep all of his conversations with important politicians private. Graham had fairly close relationships with each president after Truman, Nixon being the closest friend. Graham helped Nixon campaign, they exchanged letters, and met frequently. When the Watergate scandal broke out, Graham continued to believe and support Nixon “long after most folks had given up on the cause.” (Wacker, 176). When the smoking gun was finally revealed, Graham felt betrayed by Nixon. Graham faced backlash for his lasting support of Nixon and for focusing on Nixon’s bad words rather than his actions. Graham learned his lesson. Wacker stated that “this long, sorry story taught Graham priceless lessons about the dangers of political entanglements and, equally important, the dangers of letting personal friendship dim moral judgment.” (Wacker, 178). Graham was never as close to an American president as he was with Nixon.
Wacker emphasized Graham’s attempts to remain politically neutral throughout the book. While it was obvious that Graham supported integration, he avoided symbolic acts of resistance, like marching or protesting. Aside from Nixon, who was his friend, and Kennedy, who was Catholic, Graham tried to remain neutral when it came to elections. He often would support candidates in private, but in public, Graham worked to maintain a neutral image, even if sometimes it was obvious who he supported. While this can be seen as a theme throughout Graham’s life, Wacker stated this neutrality as one of Graham’s regrets: “He never marched in the streets or went to jail or fought off snarling police dogs (a set of choices he ultimately said he regretted). But by defying his friends, and integrating his crusades, and taking fierce criticism for it, he staked out his position, in his own way.” (Wacker, 249). Despite Graham’s non-involvement in acts of resistance and his own regret for those choices, Wacker gave Graham grace by stating the clarity of Graham’s position without actions.
Throughout the book, the reader is struck by the strength of Graham’s moral integrity. Wacker portrayed Graham’s convictions as something Graham decided and then stuck to his entire life. These convictions were a specific set of rules known as the “Modesto Manifesto,” which later came to be known as “The Graham Rules.” The rules involved honesty with money and conversion numbers, cooperation with other clergymen, and sexual morality. Wacker emphasized Graham’s efforts to not make money. Billy Graham wanted nothing to get in the way of the gospel, and made sure that all donations went through the Billy Graham institution rather than himself. Graham fixed his salary at 15,000 dollars so that any embezzling allegations potentially made against him would have no foundation. By all accounts, Graham was faithful to his wife at all times, and whenever he was asked about conversion numbers, Graham would say something like “only God knows.” If he was critiqued by other clergymen, Graham made an effort to meet with them and discuss views in an attempt to avoid bad blood. Wacker gave examples of Graham’s honesty throughout the book.
Wacker was a forgiving biographer. Instead of weighing Graham’s successes and failures to determine who Graham was, Wacker first examined who Graham was, then used this perspective to study Graham’s successes and failures. This approach to biography allows subjects the potential for forgiveness, as was seen in Wacker’s judgment of Graham’s mistakes with Nixon. Instead of attributing Graham’s misjudgment in backing Nixon to ignorance or intolerance, Wacker ascribed this mistake to Graham’s loyalty to Nixon as his friend and Graham’s confidence in his own ability to judge others. In 2001, recorded anti-semitic conversations between Nixon and Graham were released to the public. While most of the public immediately condemned Graham as intolerant, Wacker evaluated Graham’s response, decided he was sincere, and forgave the preacher.
Finally, one of the most important themes throughout the book is the approachability of Graham. People who never met Graham sent him letters as if they knew him. Wacker categorized these people into two groups: wounded souls and grateful friends. Wacker stated that “the writers often said Graham was the only one they could tell. They felt he knew them, even when he didn’t.” (Wacker, 121). People saw in Graham “not only a confessor but also someone who could empathize with their joys and victories.” (Wacker, 126). Wacker showed another example of Graham’s friendliness whenever he discusses Graham’s critics. Graham would meet with most people who spoke against him (he could not meet with all of them), and while every meeting did not end with both parties on the same page, the critic walked away admiring Graham. Wacker’s epilogue was an endearing description of the letters Graham received from children. Wacker’s examination of the contents of these letters revealed how Graham touched children’s lives as well as adults.
With Billy Graham known as “America’s Pastor” and his relationship and influence on the presidents, this biography is an important contribution to the historiography regarding American theology and American politics. Wacker did an efficient job detailing Graham’s life from the start of his preaching career to the legacy he left after his death. The book was easy to read, written succinctly, and organized effectively. One Soul at a Time honored the Graham legacy.