Mike Johnson said he doesn’t normally get nervous before public speaking. But Thursday morning, surrounded by members of the North Carolina delegation and governor in Statuary Hall, he described a different feeling.
“I am nervous today, can I be honest with you? Because Billy Graham is such a towering figure in my life. As he is in all of our lives,” the House’s top leader said at the unveiling of a statue honoring the late evangelical minister. “And such a singular figure, the leading ambassador for the Kingdom of our lifetimes.”
The 7-foot bronze statue of the late reverend, who offered spiritual counsel to U.S. presidents and was designated North Carolina’s “Favorite Son” in 2013, finally arrived in D.C. nearly 10 years after approval from the North Carolina General Assembly.
