IN THE BEGINNING

1918: Born into a strict Presbyterian family near Charlotte, N.C.

1934: Accepts Christ at a revival in Charlotte led by traveling evangelist Mordecai Ham.

1936: Enrolls at Bob Jones College, Cleveland, Tenn.

1937: Unhappy at Bob Jones College, transfers to Florida Bible Institute in Temple Terrace (now Trinity College in New Port Richey.)

1938: Immersed in Silver Lake, near Palatka, and baptized by Southern Baptist minister Cecil Underwood.

1939: Delivers first sermon on Easter in Bostwick, near Palatka.

1940: Graduates from Florida Bible Institute, ordained later that year.

William Randolph Hearst in 1935. [Photo: AP]

HIS MESSAGE GAINS MOMENTUM

1943: Marries classmate Ruth McCue Bell and graduates from Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. Becomes pastor at First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Ill.

1944: Chief preacher for Youth for Christ rallies.

1945: Birth of Virginia, first of five children.

1947: First book, Calling Youth to Christ, is published.

1949: Media czar William Randolph Hearst hears Graham deliver a sermon during a Los Angeles revival and instructs editors at each of his newspapers to ""puff Graham." Soon, glowing stories about Graham appear on front pages around the country.

1950: Establishes the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, launches Hour of Decision radio show.

1951: Addresses mass religious service at Al Lang Field to open St. Petersburg's Festival of States Week.

A crowd of 18,000 gathers at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg in 1961 to hear Graham preach. [Times files ]

1953: Preaches at Al Lang Field and speaks at Trinity College, his alma mater, the next day.

1954: Gains attention for his Greater London Crusade.

1956: Founds Christianity Today magazine.

1957: First televised crusade in New York.

1961: Speaks at rallies in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Tampa.

Graham (left) prays with Richard Nixon at the Republican National Convention in 1968. [Times files]

1969: Gives the prayer at Richard Nixon's inauguration and later participates in many presidential inaugurations.

1974: Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker begin broadcasting the PTL Club from Charlotte, N.C.

1978: Says reading transcripts of Nixon tapes a ""profoundly disturbing and disappointing experience" and ""what comes through on these tapes is not the man I have known for many years."

1979: Conducts five-day crusade at Tampa Stadium.

1987: Evangelist Oral Roberts says God will end his life unless he receives $4.5-million for his ministry.

Jim Bakker resigns his PTL television ministry and turns it over to Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell after confessing to a sexual encounter with a church secretary at a Clearwater motel.

1988: Graham tours China.

After it is revealed that Jimmy Swaggart has had an affair with a prostitute, the evangelist tearfully confesses from his pulpit to a ""moral failure" and is subsequently defrocked by the Assemblies of God denomination. Layoffs and cutbacks follow at his multimillion-dollar Swaggart Ministries.

Pat Robertson, considered the father of television ministries, takes time off from his daily 700 Club to run for the Republican presidential nomination.

1989: Jim Bakker convicted on federal fraud charges for bilking supporters and imprisoned in Rochester, Minn.

1991: Graham prays with George Bush and stays at the White House the night before Bush launches Operation Desert Storm against Iraq.

1992: Publicly confirms he has Parkinson's disease.

1993: Leads prayers at Bill Clinton's first inauguration.

1995: Names son Franklin to succeed him.

1996: Awarded Congressional Gold Medal.

With President and Mrs. Clinton, left, Graham speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast in February. [Photo: AP]

1997: Leads prayers at Clinton's second inauguration.

March 1998: Says he forgives Clinton for his sins because the president is under a lot of stress and has such a ""tremendous personality" that ""ladies just go wild over him." Graham also writes a letter that is published in the New York Times about morality and leadership but has declined since then to talk publicly about the president.

Compiled by Times news researcher Kitty Bennett
Sources: Current Biography, Times wires, Times files, Charlotte Observer