Quand Richard Nixon utilisait Billy Graham

J'écrivais un peu plus tôt que Billy Graham, le prédicateur décédé aujourd'hui, avait été très influent et qu'il fréquentait plusieurs hommes politiques américains, souvent des présidents des deux grandes formations politiques. Ces fréquentations étaient toujours plus ou moins risquées, mais celle avec Richard Nixon eut un prix très élevé.Graham affirmera plus tard regretter certaines déclarations.

"It is one example of just how much “America’s pastor” was a staunch political ally of one particular American, Richard Nixon. At the 1969 inaugural, Graham delivered a prayer that read, in part: “We recognize, O Lord, that in Thy sovereignty Thou has permitted Richard Nixon to lead us at this momentous hour of our history”—a sentiment that sounded to some as if he was asserting that Nixon was God’s choice. His support for the war in Vietnam was so enthusiastic that on April 15,1969, after meeting with missionaries from Vietnam, Graham sent a memo to the White House urging that, if the peace talks in Paris failed, Nixon should bomb the dikes that held back floodwaters in the North. This, said Graham, “could overnight destroy the economy of North Vietnam.” It would also have destroyed countless villages, sending as many as a million civilians to their deaths.""

  https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/21/billy-graham-death-richard-nixon-217039