

In the beginning there was Billy Graham. In the midst of the Cold War, the US preacher established himself at the ‘pope’ of the evangelicals - a conservative Christian movement that aims to expand the social influence of religion in society. His great crusade was then appropriated by a powerful political-religious lobby in the following decades.

From the 1970s onwards, the secularisation of America was increasingly a source of dismay for evangelical leaders. In a society they denounced as decadent, they fought to preserve their version of family values. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, he was conservative Christians favoured candidate.