Thanks for downloading this episode of Backstory, which takes us to Wakanda, discusses the controversial

reputation of inventor Thomas Edison, and explains how Billy Graham became the confidant

of American presidents.

If you enjoy this episode, visit us at backstoryradio.org.

There's plenty more where this comes from.

Major funding for Backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment

for the Humanities, the University of Virginia, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation,

and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is Backstory.

Welcome to Backstory.

I'm Joanne Freeman.

I'm Nathan Connolly.

I'm Ed Ayers.

Each week, Brian Ballot, Nathan Ed and I, all historians, take a topic from the headlines

and try to understand how we got here.

Today on the podcast, Visions of Haiti in Wakanda, and how the reputation of Thomas Edison

has been flickering like a faulty light bulb.

But first, as you may have seen, the Evangelist Billy Graham died this week at the age of

99.

Graham's journey took him from preaching an attempt in revivalist crusades all the way

to the White House as spiritual advisor to 13 American presidents.

In the 1940s, Graham came into the scene.

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