(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
POOL
Washington, DC – 16 May 2024
1. Wide, the statue unveiling of Rev. William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr., zooms to the statute ++PARTIALLY COVERS UPCOMING SOUNDBITE++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Mike Johnson, U.S. Speaker of the House: PARTIALLY COVERED++
"I don’t ever get nervous for public speaking, but I am nervous today. And I’ll be honest with you because Billy Graham is such a towering figure in my life and as he is in all of our lives."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Mike Johnson, U.S. Speaker of the House:
"It’s always a long journey to get a statue here in the Capitol. But we have a lot of things to give out today. Many people who helped to bring this day about and make this possible. Billy Graham finally takes his rightful place on these hallowed grounds of American democracy."
++WHITE FLASH++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rev. Franklin Graham, Evangelist:
"My father would be a little uncomfortable with this, this being here because you would want the focus to be on the one that he preached. He’d want the focus to be on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
++WHITE FLASH++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Gov. Roy Cooper, (D) North Carolina:
"Today, we acknowledge that he is a better representation of our state than the statue it replaces, which brought memories of a painful history of racism. Not that Reverend Graham was perfect. He would have been the first to tell us that. Instead, he realized that he and all of us here today have feet of clay. We are imperfect. We have been found wanting. But he believed, as many of us do, that there is redemption."
++EDIT ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
A bronze sculpture of the late Rev. Billy Graham, the prolific evangelist also known as “America’s Pastor,” was unveiled at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
Graham’s likeness, depicting the Charlotte-born minister with his archetypal gesture toward an open Bible in his hand, was revealed inside National Statuary Hall during a gathering attended by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Gov. Roy Cooper, former Vice President Mike Pence, state congressional and legislative members and Graham’s family.
The 7-foot (2.13-meter) tall statue is one of two that North Carolina and each state get to place on display inside the hall or elsewhere in the Capitol to honor notables in their history. The process for Graham’s statue to replace one of North Carolina’s began nine years ago.
“Billy Graham finally takes his rightful place on these hallowed grounds of American democracy,” Johnson, R-La., said at the dedication ceremony. As with other speakers, Johnson recalled the personal importance that Graham’s ministry of preaching the Christian gospel had on them and their families: “Billy Graham is such a towering figure in my life, and as he is in all of our lives.”
Graham, who lived most of his adult life in the mountain community of Montreat, died in 2018 at age 99. Graham was the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, preaching in person to nearly 215 million people worldwide, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. His last crusade meetings were held in New York in 2005.
An adviser of presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush, Graham influenced both the political and spiritual realm during his ministry career. As a symbol of that nexus, Graham’s body had lied in honor in the Capitol Rotunda after his death, marking just the fourth private citizen at that time to receive the distinction, the association said.
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