In the shadow of the Cuban Revolution, American Baptist preacher Billy Graham and US President John F. Kennedy barnstormed South America through overlapping tours in 1961 and 1962. Kennedy's presidency has often been presented as an intermission in the drama of evangelical political power, but grassroots activism provides new angles for analysis at the intersection of the US and Latin America. While claiming an apolitical stance, Graham worked alongside the US State Department, planting spiritual seeds on the tilled ground of foreign policy. Graham – and Protestant leaders orbiting him – curated acts of violence, painting a picture of persecution for a watching public. This narrative employed violence to draw lines of worldwide spiritual affiliation and political obligation. US evangelicals placed themselves as custodians of America's most sacred values at home and abroad, responsible for upholding democratic values, including religious tolerance, the rule of law, and anticommunism. Graham's tactics created an entangled relationship with Kennedy, where Graham arose as a metaphorical matador, fighting for persecuted Christians. Here, American evangelicals could flex their growing political muscle, while operating as an imagined religious minority community. Narratives, discourses, and representations of violence circulated transnationally and acquired differing meanings depending on the political interests of those mobilizing them.

在古巴革命的阴影下，美国浸信会传教士葛培理 (Billy Graham) 和美国总统约翰·F·肯尼迪 (John F. Kennedy) 于 1961 年和 1962 年重叠访问南美。肯尼迪的总统任期经常被描述为福音派政治权力戏剧的间歇，但草根阶层激进主义为分析美国和拉丁美洲的交汇点提供了新的角度。在声称非政治立场的同时，格雷厄姆与美国国务院合作，在外交政策的沃土上播下精神种子。格雷厄姆和他周围的新教领袖策划了暴力行为，为观看的公众描绘了一幅迫害的画面。这种叙述使用暴力来划定世界范围内的精神归属和政治义务的界限。美国福音派人士将自己定位为美国在国内外最神圣价值观的守护者，负责维护民主价值观，包括宗教宽容、法治和反共主义。格雷厄姆的策略与肯尼迪建立了一种纠缠不清的关系，格雷厄姆作为一个隐喻的斗牛士出现，为受迫害的基督徒而战。在这里，美国福音派可以展示他们日益增长的政治力量，同时作为一个想象中的宗教少数群体社区运作。暴力的叙事、话语和表现在跨国界传播，并根据动员者的政治利益而获得不同的含义。