Remembering Billy Graham: Lesser-known facts of the evangelist's life

Famed evangelist Billy Graham has died at the age of 99.

A family spokesman saying Reverend Graham died at his home in the morning hours of natural causes. Known as America’s Pastor, Graham is estimated to have preached to over 200 million people in more than 185 countries.

Graham met with every U.S. president starting with Harry Truman in 1950 all the way up to Barack Obama.

President George W. Bush credited Graham for getting him to quit drinking. President Bill Clinton turned to Graham after his sex scandal.

Graham was known to avoid a political agenda but sparked controversy by saying to President Nixon in a secretly recorded tape that Jews had a “stranglehold” on the news media.

A key figure in revitalizing the evangelical movement, Graham was the first Christian to preach publicly behind the iron curtain and in communist countries after world war II. He also insisted on preaching to integrated congregations before it became law.

In 1989 Graham was awarded a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Graham helped form what later became known as the “Modesto Manifesto” an agreement in which he would avoid interacting or dining with women other than his wife when he was alone. Vice President Pence has been said to follow that rule.

Growing up on a dairy farm in North Carolina, Graham finding his calling at age 16 when a traveling preacher came to town, turning what had once been a dream for playing professional baseball into life as a world-renowned Southern Baptist.