New York Crusade (1957)
In addition to Graham, the gathered audience heard speeches from then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Pastor Martin Luther King, among others.
97 evangelistic meetings took place in the then-current Madison Square Garden arena on Eighth Avenue, with an average attendance of 17,828 people.
Graham's campaign was criticized by liberal theologians, Protestant fundamentalists, and proponents of racial segregation.
The New York evangelistic crusade marked the beginning of televangelism – a new form of religiosity based on media.
In the summer of 1955, the council again proposed the idea, and on December 9, a positive decision was made, forming a committee for the crusade.
[4] On May 11, Graham met with President Dwight Eisenhower to finalize organizational matters related to the crusade.
[12] The New York Times estimated at the outset of the campaign that its total costs would be $1.3 million, not including Graham's evangelistic group's expenses.
[15] Sponsors included William Randolph Hearst (Jr.), publisher Henry Luce, aviator Eddie Rickenbacker, and Norman Vincent Peale, one of the most well-known preachers in New York.
[21] The New York Herald Tribune commented daily on the evangelization in a column titled Billy Graham Says.
[23] On July 1, the influential magazine LIFE featured Graham speaking at Madison Garden on its cover.
[27] In addition to Billy Graham, other speakers included Martin Luther King (July 18), Mordecai Ham (May 29), and other preachers and evangelists.
Popular American soloists such as George Beverly Shea, Ethel Waters, and Jerome Hines provided music ministry.
[28] Beverly Shea performed the Christian hymn How Great Thou Art 99 times, thus contributing to its popularization.
[29] Martin Luther King arrived on July 18, and Billy Graham introduced him by saying, A great social revolution is taking place in the United States today.
[30] In addition to the regular meetings at Madison Square Garden, one-time gatherings took place in various parts of New York.
On May 19, on the occasion of Norway's Independence Day, Graham spoke at Leif Eriksson Park in Brooklyn.
[16] The meeting in Harlem was organized to encourage African American residents of New York to participate in the crusade.
[30] On July 13, in the afternoon, a special meeting for Spanish-speaking residents of New York took place near Madison Square Garden.
In his sermon, Graham listed the following threats facing America: communism, the hydrogen bomb, racism, and moral decline.
[41] Further meetings took place from October 20 to 27, with the final one occurring at the Polo Grounds stadium, where Graham spoke to 40,000 people.
[46] Henry J. Pratt estimated that this was the first time the Protestant Council of New York came into direct contact with its faithful.
The extent to which the crusade contributed to discrediting liberal theology, marginalizing evangelical fundamentalism, and highlighting Martin Luther King's struggle has not yet been fully examined by historians.
[30] After this crusade, Billy Graham lost approximately 14 kg of body weight and was physically exhausted.
He stated that he would send participants of the crusade back to their own churches – Catholic, Protestant, Jewish... and the rest to God.
Just after the San Francisco crusade, Pickering published a pamphlet stating that Graham had been a tool of God and had done much for fundamentalist Christianity in his time, leading it out of obscurity and making the Gospel a national good,[53] but in recent times, he had turned away and drawn closer to liberals.
[60] John A. Mackay, a Presbyterian theologian and ecumenist, and rector of the liberal Princeton Theological Seminary, positively evaluated the crusade.
He believed that the Christian community would be strengthened, social structures would be transformed, and thus the Kingdom of God would be brought closer.
[45] Uta Andrea Balbier assessed in 2009 that the New York Crusade was the most expansive undertaking in the history of American evangelicalism.
