‘He Died Doing the Work He Was Born to Do’

As Fox News host Sean Hannity reflected on that tension during his own tribute at the cathedral: “Lindsey and I did not always agree. Not on everything. But we could disagree and we could remain friends, and we remained friends for decades.”

And as Graham’s South Carolina pastor, the Rev. Tim Tate, said of the late Senator’s temperament in his eulogy: “You may not have liked him and he may not have liked you, but he would work with you for the common good of this country.”

Three of the best-known players in the conservative movement—Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the Rev. Franklin Graham—also spoke at the service, a reflection of the deep respect Graham garnered from across the modern GOP.

“Sen. Graham was very Washington, if you know what I mean,” Tate said. “But he was also very small-town.”

Graham was elected to the U.S. House during the 1994 Republican Revolution that elevated Newt Gingrich to the Speaker role, as the country’s politics were growing increasingly toxic. Graham quickly emerged as an unmovable conservative advocate for American military strength. He moved to the Senate after the 2002 elections, at the height of the post-9/11 trauma and shortly before the United States expanded its war on terror from Afghanistan to Iraq.