Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer famous for his work in the Leopold Loeb Case and Monkey Trial. Darrow first established a reputation as a labour lawyer after defending Eugene Debs, a socialist and the president of the American Labor Union. He also represented other union leaders and striking miners and focused on child labor and working conditions within the mines. Darrow was later banned from practicing law in California after being accused of bribing jurors, and switch to criminal law after the incident. In 1924, he took on the Leopold Loeb case. Two college students, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold murdered 14-year old Robert Franks “for the thrill of it.” Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb and argued against the death penalty, delivering a twelve hour speech in front of the jury that convinced the judge to spare the students. Loeb and Leopold were sentenced to life in prison. Darrow’s speech was often called his finest and was extremely influential in its criticism of the American justice system. Darrow’s most famous case was the Monkey trial in 1925, when he defended teacher John Scopes for teaching about evolution. The Butler’s Law, passed in 1925, forbid the teaching of evolution in most Southern states. The 1920s was a time of great change and cultural development. In response to new social patterns came a wave of revivalism, splitting society into modernists and traditionalists. This trial was a symbol of that divide, and Scopes mattered little to both sides involved. Overall, the outcome of the trial was a chance for one side to prove themselves right. The trial was also actually a test case funded by the American Civil Liberties Union who wanted to challenge the constitutionality of Butler’s law, provided they found a teacher who was willing to act as a defendant. Darrow defended Scopes, while William Jennings Bryan, a politician and traditionalists, led the prosecution. Darrow was joined by Arthur Garfield Hays on the defense, and A.T. Stewart and Ben McKenzie completed the prosecution team. Public interest in the trial was extremely high. Hundreds gathered outside the courtroom, and thousands more listened on the radio, the first ever live broadcast for a trial. From the outset of the trial, things didn't go well for Darrow. Darrow’s true goal was to get a higher court to declare that laws forbidding the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional, but Judge Raulston denied most of the motions of the defense team, including ruling defense testimonies inadmissible. When an expert Darrow had brought in to explain evolution was rejected, Darrow changed his strategy, now trying to attack the literal interpretation of the Bible rather than validate Darwin. Bryan was asked about a whale swallowing Jonah, Joshua making the sun stand still, Noah and the great flood, the temptation of Adam in the garden of Eden, and the creation according to Genesis. Unable to give literal explanations, for these events, Bryan was forced to eventually contend that not everything in the Bible could be taken literally. Even though the testimony was again ruled inadmissible, in the eyes of the spectators and the press, who were already leaning towards the defense, it was a victory for Darrow. Scopes was found guilty and charged with a fine, but the ruling was reversed by the Tennessee Supreme Court on a technicality. Bryan, who was humiliated by the press, died 6 days later. Even though the trial did somewhat prove to be a setback for traditionalists, it didn’t really change the views of traditionalists or modernists. Darrow may have won, but the debate over evolution and the Bible continued and the ruling of the trial had little consequence. http://famous-trials.com/scopesmonkey/2127-home https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clarence-Darrow https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/scopes-trial https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3943.html http://www.ushistory.org/us/47b.asp