Crusade Windup

With a big street rally in Times Square, Billy Graham this week wound up his New York crusade. It was the longest (16 weeks v. London's 12), biggest (1,941,200 attendance v. 1,339,400 in London) evangelistic campaign he had ever preached. By the numbers, at least, it was also the most fruitful: 56,426 made "decisions for Christ" at Madison Square Garden (38,447 in London's Harringay Arena), and 30,523 made decisions as a result of Billy's coast-to-coast TV program. Of those making decisions at the Garden, 57% were from New York City, 36% from suburbs and exurbs--Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey and Long Island.

The Reprieve. Graham and his team left their mark on celebrities as well as on New York's anonymous multitudes. Box 31 at the Garden was held by crusade headquarters for visiting VIPs, and the Garden management itself reserved two boxes every night. Such disparate personalities as Perle ("Hostess with the Mostes' ") Mesta and Singer Ethel Waters came whenever they could. For Perle Mesta this meant some ten visits, "whenever I'm in New York. Billy is a perfectly marvelous man who is doing a great deal of good. I plan to give a dinner for him, though I haven't any firm date yet." Ethel Waters sang in the choir almost every night of the crusade. "I just love to hear the word of God, and I don't get enough of it," she said last week. "Billy's a wonderful child of God, and we can all be thankful for the reprieve that's been given to a wicked city."

Metropolitan Opera Bass Jerome Hines heads a Christian Fellowship group of entertainers organized during the crusade. Several Bible study groups were also formed as a result of Graham's work. Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney has gathered about a dozen fellow socialites who meet once a week "in an effort to achieve a broader understanding of the Bible." Says Mrs. Whitney: "I think the after effects of this crusade will be extraordinary--the beginning of a reawakening."

The Influence. In measurable terms, Graham's impact on the big city was slight (TIME, July 8), but a growing number of clergymen think that the incalculable hidden influence may have been great. The overall effect of the crusade, says the Rev. Dan M. Potter, executive director of the New York Protestant Council, has been "magnificent"--"Billy and his team have done a tremendous amount for New York. Everywhere there is a quickening of the spirit--in the churches and out of them. And I know the long-range results will surprise a lot of people who were skeptical 16 weeks ago."

Billy will be back in Manhattan for a week of "Visitation Evangelism" (Oct. 20-27), during which volunteers will conduct a house-to-house campaign, culminating in a rally at the 63,000-capacity Polo Grounds on Reformation Sunday.

Last week, Billy conferred with New York's Governor Averell Harriman on juvenile delinquency. Then, before a Caribbean tour scheduled for January and February, a San Francisco crusade beginning on April 27, Billy Graham hoped to get three weeks of rest with his family in North Carolina. "I'll probably play golf every day and eat as much as possible," he says. "I weighed 184 at the start of this campaign and weigh 166 now, but I lost more in London. Guess it's because I didn't eat as much ice cream as I do here."

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