CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Rev. Billy Graham had to die before his statue could be placed in the U.S. Capitol, but on the fifth anniversary of his death his memorial still hasn’t made it into the Statuary Hall collection.
The North Carolina General Assembly approved in 2015 a statue of Graham to replace, in the Capitol, one of Charles Aycock, a former North Carolina governor and a known white supremacist.
Graham, born to dairy farmers near Charlotte, made it his mission to reach with the gospel as many people as he could — including presidents of both parties. His sermons reached 200 countries before his death, at 99, in Montreat.
