From the S&S archives:
Billy Graham says Nixon will push for peace

TOKYO — Evangelist Billy Graham said here Monday that he expects President-elect Richard M. Nixon to do all he can to obtain world peace.

"People seem to forget," said the towering, gray-haired preacher, "that Richard Nixon is a Quaker, and Quakers believe in peace. He is a man of peace and he will work with all his energy toward peace."

"I'll say right away that I won't comment on Vietnam. I'm neither a dove nor a hawk, and to make any comments on it would be outside my position as an evangelist."

Graham will meet with Christian religious leaders in Japan and visit hospitals at Yokosuka Naval Base and Yokota AB before leaving later this week for Vietnam where he will spend Christmas. While there he will conduct services and meet with Archbishop Terence J. Cooke, archbishop of New York, and also appear with the Bob Hope Christmas show.

"Christmas is a time for peace, and while I'm in Vietnam I will publicly pray for both sides and for peace," Graham said.

Graham is taking with him to Vietnam personal messages from President Johnson, President-elect Nixon and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

"I saw Gen. Eisenhower in Walter Reed Hospital before I left Washington," Graham said. "He was looking terrific. He was lying in bed talking and laughing. We talked for a while, and before I left we prayed.

"As I was leaving he called to me and said, `Billy, you're going to be in Vietnam for Christmas. You tell those doughboys over there that there's an old soldier here in Walter Reed who's really pulling for them."'

Graham has been a spiritual advisor and confidante to three presidents and has been a friend of Nixon for 20 years. Asked his views on his relationships with the presidency, Graham said,

"When the President asks me a question of moral or spiritual problems, I try to give him an answer based on the scriptures. I can't answer questions on politics or policy. As I said earlier, it's outside of my experience, but I accept my friendship with a president as an opportunity from God."

Graham said he was looking forward to his trip to Vietnam. "When Bob Hope did his 1966 show there, I was with him, and I appeared on the TV show later. I understand he's coming into Tokyo today."

Told that Hope was already here, and in the same hotel, Graham said, "I'll have to give him a call. He called me before he left, but he didn't tell me he was going to take Ann-Margret along. He's probably going to use her as a secret weapon."