From Today's New York Times
80 Years Ago, They Inherited the Wind
By SAM ROBERTS
William Jennings Bryan died 80 years ago today as he napped in a Tennessee hotel room, just before he was finally to deliver his closing argument in the Scopes case. The trial had actually ended a few days before, after the judge abruptly cut short the testimony, but Bryan, after subjecting himself to a withering interrogation by Clarence Darrow, the nation's leading defense lawyer, was intent on getting the last word.
Last week, the Smithsonian Institution archives announced that Marcel C. LaFollette, a historian, had found more than 60 unpublished photographs taken during the trial, which, as H. L. Mencken wrote, transformed Dayton, Tenn., from an "obscure and happy" town into a "universal joke."
The photos provide what Ellen Alers, an assistant archivist, called a "unique, informal, much more human view that personalizes the case." A sample is online at www.siarchives.si.edu.
John T. Scopes, a 24-year-old high school biology teacher, was the chosen vehicle to challenge the state law that outlawed "any theory that denies the story of the Divine creation of man as taught in the Bible."
After deliberating for eight minutes, the jury found him guilty. He was fined $100. A year later, the State Supreme Court overturned the verdict on a technicality. Scopes, who became a geologist, wrote in 1965 that as a result of the trial, "restrictive legislation on academic freedom is forever a thing of the past." (He died in 1970.) Tennessee repealed the law in 1967, but debate over teaching evolution persists.
Darrow's argument that Bryan disregarded scientific evidence was immortalized in this exchange:
"I do not think about things I don't think about," Bryan said.
"Do you think about the things you do think about?" Darrow asked.
"Well," Bryan replied, "sometimes."
By SAM ROBERTS
William Jennings Bryan died 80 years ago today as he napped in a Tennessee hotel room, just before he was finally to deliver his closing argument in the Scopes case. The trial had actually ended a few days before, after the judge abruptly cut short the testimony, but Bryan, after subjecting himself to a withering interrogation by Clarence Darrow, the nation's leading defense lawyer, was intent on getting the last word.
Last week, the Smithsonian Institution archives announced that Marcel C. LaFollette, a historian, had found more than 60 unpublished photographs taken during the trial, which, as H. L. Mencken wrote, transformed Dayton, Tenn., from an "obscure and happy" town into a "universal joke."
The photos provide what Ellen Alers, an assistant archivist, called a "unique, informal, much more human view that personalizes the case." A sample is online at www.siarchives.si.edu.
John T. Scopes, a 24-year-old high school biology teacher, was the chosen vehicle to challenge the state law that outlawed "any theory that denies the story of the Divine creation of man as taught in the Bible."
After deliberating for eight minutes, the jury found him guilty. He was fined $100. A year later, the State Supreme Court overturned the verdict on a technicality. Scopes, who became a geologist, wrote in 1965 that as a result of the trial, "restrictive legislation on academic freedom is forever a thing of the past." (He died in 1970.) Tennessee repealed the law in 1967, but debate over teaching evolution persists.
Darrow's argument that Bryan disregarded scientific evidence was immortalized in this exchange:
"I do not think about things I don't think about," Bryan said.
"Do you think about the things you do think about?" Darrow asked.
"Well," Bryan replied, "sometimes."
2 Comments:
At August 02, 2005 10:09 AM, N Himself said…
Sunddently so interested in science education, and yet ne'er a visit to the humble New York Hall of Science, where yours truly spent most of May and June crafting a $2.4M proposal, in collaboration with the NCSE, to ask the National Science Foundation to fund the creation of an exhibition combating Intelligent Design? The Hall of Science, where every day, science education is poured into the crucible that is New York City? Where fully 12% of all metro-area teacher professional development takes place each year? Where young women and minorities are encouraged to pursue careers in the sciences and education, and given hope that they too may someday engineer collaborative Web-based applications for Manhattan hedge funds?
Oh TYA, but you are a trend-riding newshound. ;)
Keep August 20th open?
At August 29, 2005 1:28 PM, jano said…
Ouch, burned!
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