Recently, the Academy Awards ceremony had a Jewish spin. Shortly before, rumors began to circulate about John Nash, the schizophrenic mathematics genius, who was the hero of the movie, “A Beautiful Mind.” We learned that he once was a rabid anti-Semite. Critics faulted the producers of this film for omitting this important fact, as well as other key details in Nash's life.

Nash's defenders do acknowledge that a few years after he was diagnosed with this devastating mental affliction, he did claim to feel threatened by Jews and the State of Israel. He also believed that he was the Messiah.

Akiva Goldman was the writer of the screenplay. He is the son of two Jewish psychologists, who work with emotionally disturbed children. Goldman was fascinated by the biography of Nash he read. In the film, he wanted to show that, when people suffer delusions, their minds totally betray them. In short, Goldman is claiming that Nash's alleged anti-Semitism does not reflect his true convictions. It was the product of his deranged mind.

About the same time, another shocking revelation broke into the news. The National Archives made public thousands of tape recordings of conversations of the late President Richard Nixon, who was notorious for his slurs against Jews. On some of these tapes, were exchanges between him and the famed evangelist, Rev. Billy Graham.

In 1972, Graham agreed with Nixon that our nation's problems lie with the satanic Jews. Both accused Jews of dominating the media, one of the oldest anti-Jewish canards. Graham went on to blame Jews for putting out pornographic stuff. He told Nixon that the Jewish stranglehold has to be broken or the country will go down the drain. He admitted to Nixon that Jews do not really know his true feelings about them.

When Graham recently learned about this revelation, he flatly denied saying anything defamatory about Jews, either publicly or privately. Yet there is no question that Graham's famous Southern drawl is unmistakably the one heard on those tapes.

Graham, who is now 83 and suffering from the ravages of Parkinson's Disease, swiftly issued a four-sentence apology. He also claimed that he had no memory of those 1972 conversations with Richard Nixon. Many Jewish leaders were unconvinced by his denials. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, acknowledged that, for decades, we have viewed Graham as an American icon, the closest public figure we have to an American spiritual leader. However, Foxman adds that Graham has been playing a charade all these years. Having been so close to so many presidents, who knows what else he has told them about Jews?

How shall we deal with these disclosures about Graham's anti-Jewish diatribes? We can't ascribe them to mental derangement, as we can in the case of John Nash. Obviously, it was with a clear and sane mind that Graham denigrated the Jewish people.

Until we learned of these ugly assertions, we Jews had looked upon Billy Graham, as a man of impeccable character, unlike many of today's evangelists who are notorious for their sordid behavior. The title of William Martin's biography of Graham described him as: A Prophet with Honor. Indeed, Billy Graham was a symbol of moral rectitude.

Furthermore, Billy Graham has never become financially enriched by his Crusades. He receives a modest compensation from the Billy Graham Evangelic Association, located in Minneapolis. From the moment that this association was established in 1950, Billy Graham was put on a salary. He does not accept any additional love gifts or honoraria from admirers. Billy Graham has also been a faithful husband to Ruth, his wife of almost 60 years. He refuses to be placed in compromising situations with other women.

However, his involvement in politics has repeatedly thrust him into an ugly predicament which has threatened to stain his character. Since the days of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Billy Graham has been a personal friend and confidant of American presidents. In his early years, he tried to influence the direction of government.

In fact, he, like many other Protestant leaders, including Norman Vincent Peale, feared the election of a Catholic president in 1960. He thus supported Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy. Over the years, Graham and Nixon developed a very deep friendship.

In 1973, when the Watergate revelations were pouring in, Graham continued to defend Nixon. He claimed that he didn't believe that Nixon knew about this scandal and continued to vouch for Nixon's integrity. When mounting evidence did prove that Nixon was the major culprit in Watergate, Graham still refused to condemn his actions. To do so, in his judgment, was tantamount to deserting a close friend.

Possibly this is the background for his anti-Semitic vitriol in 1972. He wanted to “cozy up” to Nixon. I mentioned that the title of Graham's biography is: A Prophet with Honor. Unfortunately, Graham is no prophet. Instead of taking Nixon to task for his hateful statements against Jews, Graham agreed with him. Instead of playing the role of a Biblical prophet who excoriated heads of state for their moral delinquencies, Graham took the cowardly route. Unfortunately, this was his posture with other presidents as well. He did not keep enough of a distance from them so that he could be an effective moral critic.

Also, I do not condone the insensitive way he prays at public gatherings. In his prayers at presidential inaugurations, in 1993, 1997, and 2001, he concluded his words in the name of Jesus and to the Trinity. Christian prayers in Christian settings with Christian congregations are perfectly appropriate. However, I do not approve of offering sectarian prayers at public functions.

Yet, if we examine Graham's life, we can not find a single word or a single act in his public ministry that can be viewed as anti-Semitic. Until we learned about these despicable tapes, we have always seen Graham as a staunch friend of the Jewish people. In fact, after his first apology was not accepted, he issued a longer second apology, with an admission of guilt. Yet he said: “My remarks did not reflect my love the Jewish people. I humbly ask the Jewish people to reflect on my actions on behalf of Jews over the years that contradict my words in the Oval Office that day.”

In fact, he has always been a strong ally of the Jewish people. In the summer of 1996, as a Southern Baptist, Graham, like Dr. Buckner Fanning, disassociated himself from the Southern Baptist Convention resolution to target Jews for conversion. Quoting New Testament verses in the Book of Romans, Graham once said:

“I believe God has always had a special relationship with the Jewish people....In my evangelistic efforts, I have never felt called to single out Jews as Jews....Just as Judaism frowns on proselytizing that is coercive, or that seeks to commit men against their will, so do I.”

Little in Billy Graham's background would have led him to embracing Jews. He was born on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina. His whole culture during his boyhood was rooted in a rural Protestant Christianity. He probably never knew a Jew in those early years.

Yet, over the decades, he has shown a strong affinity to Judaism and the Jewish people. For example, in the 1970's and 1980's, he managed to conduct crusades in the former Soviet Union, while the Communists were still in control. At the same time, he worked behind the scenes with Jewish leaders to advance the cause of Soviet Jewry. His goal was not to convert Jews but to rescue them from their cruel oppression and to bring them to lands of freedom.

Billy Graham has also been an avid champion of the State of Israel. In fact, his daughter, for a while, lived on a kibbutz. His Evangelic Association several years ago produced a documentary about Israel called, "His Land.” In it, Graham shows respect for Judaism.

Furthermore, Graham was a friend of Golda Meir, the late Prime Minister of Israel. She hailed him as a "great human being, and outstanding spokesman for peace and rich brotherhood...” She commented that she would always remember him for his deep understanding of Israel's problems and for his support of Israel's struggle for peace for all the nations in that area.

Many prestigious national Jewish organizations have recognized his solidarity with the Jewish people. In 1977, Graham won the first interreligious award from the American Jewish Committee. The late Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum, the Interreligious Director of the AJC at that time, declared that most of the progress of Protestant-Jewish relations over the past quarter century was due to Billy Graham.

In a recent Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, Georgette Bennett, Tanenbaum's widow, recalled a marvelous story her husband told her about Graham's intervention in the 1973 war in Israel. Many others had also intervened. Yet it was only after Graham's phone call to Nixon, that the president send a military airlift to Israel. It was that dramatic action that helped to insure Israel's survival.

How then shall we evaluate Billy Graham in the light of these anti-Jewish disclosures? We regretfully have to look upon Billy Graham with strong ambivalence and even suspicion. We strongly deplore Graham's covert bigotry voiced 30 years ago and, as a result, now see him as the Jewish people's fallen hero. Yet we must acknowledge that, on balance, he has made significant contributions to improving Christian-Jewish relations. He has also assured the viability and security of the State of Israel and the Jewish people everywhere. Amen.

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