For his part Clinton lavished praise on Graham for his commitment to civil rights.

Speaking as Rev. Graham looked on, Clinton told the Queens, New York audience how the famed minister had refused to preach before a segregated audience in Arkansas decades ago when that state was in a bitter fight over school desegregation.

"I was just a little boy and I'll never forget it," said Clinton, with his wife sitting nearby. "I've loved him ever since. God bless you, friend."

Rev. Graham caused some controversy in 1998, when he seemed too quick to forgive Mr. Clinton just weeks after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.

"I forgive him because I know the frailty of human nature and I know how hard it is," Graham told NBC's "Today Show, adding that Clinton "has such a tremendous personality, that I think the ladies just go wild over him."

Graham later clarified his position on Clinton's sexual misconduct in an op-ed piece for the New York Times.

"A leader's moral character, first of all, influences the way he or she does his or her job," the respected reverend warned. "There simply is no such thing as an impenetrable fire wall between what we do privately and what we do publicly.

"Can someone who consistently lies or deceives or cheats in his personal life be trusted in a business deal or a courtroom or a political agreement? Should someone who takes bribes or harbors deep-seated racial animosities be given judicial or political power, as long as he keeps his behavior or his feelings private? Of course not."

Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, was more blunt, telling Fox News at the time that Clinton "has no moral character."

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