Before long, Graham was one of the most famous and admired men in America. He became a regular White House visitor, meeting with every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama and becoming a friend and counselor to several. Graham was especially close to Richard Nixon, a golfing buddy, though that friendship was diminished by the Watergate scandal.
Graham initially refused to believe that Nixon was involved, but when the Watergate tapes showed otherwise, he was deeply disappointed.
"He recognized then that he had probably been used, that he had misunderstood something of the president's character," said biographer William Martin. "That was a terrible blow to him and caused him to withdraw from the political arena."
His friendship with Nixon caused Graham additional trouble years later, when a tape of a 1972 conversation revealed that Graham had told Nixon that American Jews had a "stranglehold" on the news media. When the tape was released 30 years later, Graham was horrified and begged forgiveness from U.S. Jewish leaders.
"He did not spin it. He did not try to justify it," Wacker said. "He said repeatedly he had done wrong, and he was sorry." Virtually all the Jewish leaders with whom he spoke forgave him, Wacker said.
