In 1953, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, or so the story goes, he attended a prayer meeting with Methodist minister Abraham Vereide, the Rev. Billy Graham, and members of Congress. From these humble, modest beginnings the Presidential Prayer Breakfast was born. Later, Vereide’s successor, Douglas Coe, and long-serving chaplain of the US Senate, Richard C. Halverson, came on the scene. By 1970, the Presidential Prayer Breakfast became the National Prayer Breakfast. Since that time, every US president has attended the event.
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On this date in 1995 the Bismarck Tribune ran a front-page story about the memorial service for Richard C. Halverson. This was no ordinary service. It was held in the U.S. Capitol building, and the attendees included members of the U.S. Senate. The Reverend Richard C. Halverson had served as the chaplain to the Senate, and the most powerful people in the country gathered to pay tribute to this humble minister from North Dakota.