Billy Graham’s 1957 New York crusade: sixteen weeks at Madison Square Garden

The meetings were supposed to last six weeks. Instead, Billy Graham’s 1957 crusade in New York ran for sixteen. Night after night, crowds filled Madison Square Garden to hear the young evangelist from North Carolina. A rally at Yankee Stadium drew one of the largest crowds the stadium had seen, and the meetings were broadcast on national television. It was a turning point in the career of the most famous preacher of the twentieth century.

Graham, New York and the Garden

Graham was born in North Carolina in 1918. By the 1950s, he had become well known through large crusades in American cities and in London. New York was a symbol of modern, secular America. Holding a crusade there was a bold move. The meetings opened in May 1957 at Madison Square Garden. Attendance was so strong that the crusade was extended repeatedly through the summer.

In July, a rally at Yankee Stadium drew a vast crowd, filling the stadium and spilling onto the field. Saturday night meetings were broadcast on national television, bringing Graham’s preaching into millions of homes.

King, integration and results

Graham invited Martin Luther King Jr. to lead a prayer at one of the meetings, a significant gesture during the civil rights era. Graham insisted that his meetings be open to all races, at a time when segregation was common. Some fundamentalists criticised Graham for working with mainline churches, while some liberal critics questioned his methods.

The crusade closed with a rally in Times Square on 1 September 1957. Organisers reported that more than two million people attended, and tens of thousands made decisions for Christ. The crusade set the pattern for Graham’s later global campaigns, including those in Africa.

Counsellors, Shea and Africa

Trained volunteers, called counsellors, met people who came forward at the end of each meeting, prayed with them and connected them with local churches. Singer George Beverly Shea and song leader Cliff Barrows were part of Graham’s team, and their music was a central part of every meeting. Graham later held crusades in African countries, including Nigeria and South Africa, building on the methods developed in New York.

Graham planned six weeks in New York and stayed for sixteen. The city did not become religious overnight, but the summer of 1957 showed how large the hunger for his message was.