As America emerged from World War 1, a collective
nostalgia swept the country for the relative simplicity and normalcy of prewar
society. In rural areas, particularly the south and Midwest, Americans turned
to their faith for comfort and stability, and fundamentalist groups soared in
popularity. Fundamentalists, who believed in a literal interpretation of the
bible, locked into Darwin and the theory of evolution as the most present
threat to the truth they were sure they alone possessed. With evolution as the
enemy, they set out to eradicate it from their society, beginning with the
education system.
By 1925, states across the South had passed laws prohibiting the teaching of
evolution in classrooms. Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, and
Kentucky had such laws. In Tennessee, the Butler law passed, for although the
Governor was not a fundamentalist, his constituents were. “Nobody believes that
it is going to be an active statute.” No one that is, but the American Civil
Liberties Union in New York, which was becoming increasingly more wary of what
they saw as an infringement on their constitutional rights. With an eye on
Tennessee, the ACLU set out to initiate a court case to test the
constitutionality of the Butler law.
Within days of the ACLU’s decision to test the Butler law, George W. Rappelyea spotted
a press release in a Tennessee newspaper offering legal support to any teacher who would
challenge the law. For Rappelyea, an ardent revolutionist and a Dayton booster, there was no
better way to bring down the detested law and promote the small Tennessee
mining town. On May 5, Rappelyea and other local readers met at the local
Robinson’s drug store and hammered out the last details of their plan. All they
needed was a teacher to test the law and they found him in John T. Scopes, a
24-year old science teacher and football coach. When questioned about teaching
evolution as a part of teaching biology, Scopes replied, “So has every other
teacher. Evolution is explained in Hunter’s Civic Book, and that’s our text
book.”
Scopes was hesitant at first to join the case, but Rappelyea was determined. The trial
was to be a grand affair and bring fame and fortune to the small town. He wanted to take the
case to court and test the legality of the law. With Scopes’ agreement, he wired the ACLU,
and the stage was set.
The Scopes trial met all of Rappelyea’s expectations and more. During the twelve hot July
days in court, Dayton swarmed with politicians and lawyers, preachers and university
professors, reporters and even circus performers. The streets of Dayton took on the appearance
of a small-town fair, with people selling food, souvenirs, and religious books. The reporters
came from as wide as Hong-Kong and collectively they penned more than two million
words during the trial. Chief among the media was H.L. Mencken of the Baltimore
Sun.
During this trial, two of the greatest legal minds faced off. William Jennings Brian
called the trial a contest between evolution and Christianity … a duel to the
death. Known as the great commoner to the people, Bryan was a three time
presidential candidate and former secretary of state to Woodrow Wilson. After a
few years, he joined the Chautauqua circuit to rail against Darwin in tent
revivals across the country.
Across the courtroom at the defendant’s table was Clarence Darrow, with a sharp
criminal lawyer’s mind and an infamous reputation. To Bryan, he was the
greatest atheist in the United States. Darrow himself joined the defense team
because he wanted to put Bryan in his place as a bigot.
From the day Bryan entered Dayton, the public favor
and sentiment was on his side. The records of the trial indicate the
townspeople came out for the trial in record numbers, packing the small country
courthouse. Cries of “Amen” peppered the trial proceedings until the judge had
to ask the observers to watch the noise level. Bryan planned to end the trial
with a speech consummating his lifetime of preaching, one he had been preparing
for several weeks. Darrow however, had other plans. Since the intention was to
test the constitutionality of the Butler law, Darrow wanted the jury to find
Scopes guilty, so he could then appeal the decision in a higher court. He did
not, however, plan to call Scopes to the stand, for if he was to do so, it might
surface the Scopes had, in fact, not even been in school on the day mentioned
in the indictment. He was meticulous in his effort to keep the trial free of
technicalities. Just one could get the whole case thrown out with the law still
untested. Darrow also planned to call expert witnesses to give testimony about
evolution. But when the Judge ordered that Darrow could not call the scholars
as witnesses, he shifted his plans.
After the Judge moved the trial outside because of
high temperatures, Darrow called Bryan to the stand. During the interchange,
Darrow cleverly managed to get Bryan to admit that the earth may have been
formed over millions of years; he had his trap set and Bryan walked right into
it. Darrow asked for an immediate direct verdict, thereby blocking Bryan from
giving his speech. Within eight hours, the verdict came back as guilty. In his
departing words, Scopes made clear his wishes to appeal to a higher court.
Just five days after the trial ended, Bryan laid down for
a Sunday nap and never woke up. The diabetes with which he had contended for
years had finally taken his life.
The trial itself also passed on when more than a
year later, on January 14, 1927, the State Supreme Court in Nashville handed
down a decision, which reversed the earlier one. However, the decision stemmed
from the very point Darrow sought to avoid - a technicality.
-Haig Altunian
Copyright 1999 by Chris Chan, Greg Ryslik, and Haig Altunian
