By Fred Jackson
March 4, 2002

(AgapePress) - Billy Graham says he doesn't remember making anti-Jewish remarks to Richard Nixon in 1972 -- but if he did, he's sorry. The evangelist was responding to contents of the latest Nixon Oval Office tapes released last week, which include a conversation between Graham and the former president.

On the tapes released by the National Archives, Graham is heard commenting to Nixon about what he calls the Jewish "stranglehold" on the media, and how it is ruining the country and must be broken.

"This stranglehold has got to be broken or this country's going to go down the drain," Graham is heard to say on the tapes. "A lot of Jews are great friends of mine ... they swarm around me [and are] friendly to me because they know that I'm a friend of Israel. But they don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country."

"You must not let them know," Nixon is heard to reply.

In a statement released on Friday, the 83-year-old Graham says: "Although I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently made in the Oval Office conversation with President Nixon and Mr. Haldeman some thirty years ago. They do not reflect my views, and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks."

Graham goes on to say that throughout his ministry, he has sought to build bridges between Jews and Christians -- and will continue to do so.

The taped comments between Graham and Nixon followed Graham's address to a prayer breakfast the two attended in February 1972. When the comments surfaced late Friday, one religious historian at the University of Chicago called Graham's comments "inexcusable" and wondered if it ever occurred to Graham that he should have countered Nixon's remarks.

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