'Fascination with power would forever be his [Billy Graham's] weakness; and against its lure he often had no protection beyond the ever levelheaded Ruth telling him that he needed to stay away from politics and keep his eye on his evangelical mission . She was in every way his earthly anchor and rock: the beautiful, bright souled, bighearted daughter of missionaries, Ruth never planned to marry, and might have easily followed her parents' path had not Billy swept her off her feet at Wheaton. She was his peer and partner, sharing both his charm and energy and teasing him without mercy. Ruth knew her Bible inside out, wrote books and poetry, and brought to their union just the right skill set to manage a household and particularly a husband as unusual as her's. She liked to tell their five children that "there comes a time to stop submitting and start outwitting" - a rule that applied to herself as well, such as when she had to hide a broken arm from Billy because she didn't want him to know that she had gone hang gliding. When it came to the other fatal attractions that have destroyed so many preachers and politicians alike, he was well defended.'
Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House, p.50.
