Secondin a Series Creationismin the United State II. The Aftermath of the Scopes Trial Randy Moore JUR011IY BTt lnt Q;0fQ k Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/60/8/568/48684/4450553.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 The 0at:prop1tTeda szr~et 4~ a ex.'~u anth**1atorwd im~~~~~~~.Th*bitA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ras~~~~~~~~ *f Dma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~wove~~.... , oiM"1OO It ......nicIa.x 'liglbIte ir 44 thVtta Figure 1. This front-page headline in the 23 July 1925 issue of The Dayton Heraldannounced that John Scopes had been convicted of teaching human evolution. The events and legend of Scopes' trial have influenced all subsequent aspects of the creationism/ evolution controversy. May the son of Charles Darwin send you one word of warm Thestate of Tennesseedoesn't rule the world yet.-Clarence Dar- encouragement.To state that which is true cannot be irreligious.- row, 17 July 1925. (Day 6 of the Scopes Trial) LeonardDarwin, in a letter to John Scopes, 1925 T HE Scopestrial, which was startedfor economic The Daytontrial is the beginningof a great battlebetween reasons and fostered for political ones, ended infidelity and Christianity ... This is the controversy of the age. abruptly on 21 July 1925 with the conviction of John Scopes (see Figure 1 above). On the day Others also issued statements.William Jennings Bryan after the verdict, The Dayton Herald(Tennessee) ran. announced that (de Camp 1968): a simple headline:"Jury Retums Verdict of 'Guilty' in ... I rejoicethat the followersof our Lord and Saviour Scopes Case." The accompanying story summarized Jesus Christare at last awakenedto the insidiousattacks many of the events associated with the trial, which whichhave been made, under cover of a scientifichypothesis, it described as "a world-watched, nation-wide upon the authorityof the Bible by unbelieversof every drama"that was "the bitterestlegal battle ever waged grade and class ... [Darrow] is the finished product of evolution- the most perfectthat has yet developedin the in the United States."'lAs Scopes helped visitors leave UnitedStates. He embodiesall that is cruel,heartless, and Dayton, legislator-tumed-corespondent John Butler destructivein evolution. (who had written the anti-evolutionstatute for which Scopes was convicted) reported that (de Camp 1968): And in a harsh anti-evolutionarysermon, Ben McKen- zie (the oldest of the prosecution lawyers) pro- 'During and after the trial, activists on both sides of the contro- claimed that: versy tried to exploit the public's interest in the issues. On the front page below the article accompanyingthe headline was an ad titled "Out of the Valley of the Forgotten"that announced a "new book on evolution of the human race." Inside the paper Randy Moore is Professorof Biology in the College of Arts& was "a call to arms" for "all men and boys ... who are not now Sciences, Universityof Louisville,Louisville, KY 40292; e-mail: attending any Sunday school ... to meet and [learn] more of [email protected]. God's word." 568 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 60, NO. 8, OCTOBER1998 The modern-dayevolutionist is an atheist,and if he is not $50,000 to lecture about evolution from a Vaudeville an atheisthe is an agnostic. stage; see Scopes 1989).As Scopes said 39 years after People everywhere began trying to decide who the trial (Tompkins 1965; Scopes & Presley 1967): "won" the trial (Scopes & Presley 1967). An Okla- Leastof all did I want to makea quickdollar out of my homa newspaper proclaimed that (Ginger 1958): experience;I had too much respectfor the issues involved in the trial ... I knew that none of these offers . .. could Mr. Bryan came out more than victorious.He made a give me two things I wanted above all else: peace and monkeyout of the defensecounsel and left themgasping. emotionalstability ... I couldnot live happilyin a spotlight. Others declared Bryan a hero, claiming that he had Within a year after the trial, Scopes was again sur- saved the children of Tennessee from the teaching rounded by anonymity; he would never again be of evolution (see discussion in Larson1997). However, significantlyinvolved in the issues that stormed about many disagreed; for example, The New York Times him during the summer of 1925 (Tompkins 1965). described William Jennings Bryan's performance as However, Scopes' trial would continue to influence "absurdly pathetic," and others declared that "Dar- the evolution/ creationism controversy. row's manhandlingof Bryanhad a shatteringimpact" (Ginger 1958). The Arkansas Gazette reported that: Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/60/8/568/48684/4450553.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Bryan'sResponse to Darrow For the state of Tennessee,the Scopes trial has been a moral disaster. It will plague the citizen of Tennessee Darrow's questioning of Bryan at the Scopes trial whereverhe may go. was based on the assurance that Bryan would have H.L. Mencken (1925) wrote that: the same opportunity to question Darrow, Malone and Hays. However, local officials told Judge Raul- On theone side was bigotry,ignorance, hatred, superstition, ston that they could not guarantee Darrow's safety every sort of blacknessthat the human mind is capable of. On the other side was sense. And sense achieveda (Bryan 1925). This, combined with Darrow's request great victory. that Scopes be convicted (to provide the basis for an appeal to higher court),resulted in Judge Raulston As both sides claimed victory, editors of newspapers changing the course of the trial:he expunged Bryan's suchas TheNew YorkTimes, The New YorkEvening Post testimony from the trial's record and canceled the and Chicago Tribune predicted that the creationism/ plan for Bryan to question Darrow. The abrupt end evolution controversy would continue unabated of the trial (i.e., before Bryan could question Darrow) (Ended at last, 1925; As expected, Bryan wins, 1925; deprived Bryan of making his much-anticipatedclos- Dayton's "amazing" trial, 1925). They were all right. ing remarks to the court. Journalists and others at After the trial, the Rhea County School Board the trial were so interested in Bryan's remarks that offered to renew Scopes' contract for a year if he Bryan promised to prepare them for publication. would adhere "to the spirit of the evolution law" On the Thursday after the trial, Bryan suggested (Ginger 1958). Scopes rejectedthe offer and left town that his supportersestablish a college for young men to ponder his future.2Soon thereafterhe accepted a on one of the hills surroundingDayton. Bryan-who scholarship (offered by scientists and reporters who had greatly disappointed many fundamentaliststhree attended the trial) to attend graduate school at the days earlier when he took the witness chair as a University of Chicago in September of 1925, and "Bible expert" (Moore 1998a)4-pledged $50,000 for spent the rest of his life as a geologist who only the college and committed himself to raise the rest occasionally spoke in public about his trial (e.g., at of the money necessary to establish the college. For the 1960 world premiereof Inherit the Wind in Dayton, most of that Thursday, Bryan evaluated sites for the where he was given a parade and a key to the city; college that he had proposed.5Two days later, Bryan see Cornelius 1991).3In doing so, Scopes passed up spoke at the county fair in Winchester,TN, thereby many lucrative offers to cash in on his fame (e.g., fulfilling a promise to Attorney GeneralTom Stewart a New York agent offered Scopes $2,000 per week (who later became a U.S. Senator).When he returned to appear in Tarzan movies, and another offered him denounced Scopes as "the devil," and Scopes noted that teachers 2Not surprisingly,Scopes' successor (Raleigh Reece, a reporter were still required to sign a pledge that they would not teach from Nashville) was a strictfundamentalist (de Camp 1968;Ginger evolution (Scopes & Presley 1967). In 1972, Dayton hosted the 1958). George Rappleyea, who kept in touch with Scopes after world-premiereof The Darwin Adventure, a British-madefilm about the trial,noted with great amusementthat when Scopes' successor Charles Darwin's voyage aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. Francis W. missed the first week of classes in the Fall of 1925, his substitute Darwin (CharlesDarwin's great-grandson)was a special guest at was Darius Darwin (Scopes 1989). that premiere (Mercer1978; Cornelius 1991). 3Scopes' application for a fellowship was rejected because of 4Accordingto one writer, "As a man and a legend, Bryan was Scopes' godlessness (de Camp 1968). When Scopes returned to destroyed by his testimony that day." Jerry Falwell noted that Dayton for the premiereof Inheritthe Wind,"Scopes Sodas" were Bryan "lost the respect of Fundamentalistswhen he subscribed again priced at 15 cents, just as they were during the trial (Scopes to the idea of periods of time for creation rather than twenty- 1989; for more about Inherit the Wind, see Moore 1998a and four-hour days" (Falwell 1981). referencestherein). During Scopes'visit to Dayton, a local preacher 5Mostof the initial meeting to plan the university was devoted CREATIONISMIN THEU.S., PART11 569 to Chattanooga,Bryan visited a doctor, who warned Thepublic holds you personallyresponsible for endingthe him of diabetes and a heart condition, and recom- life of WilliamJennings Bryan. Mark my word,you are next. God will not permit[you] to live. mended that he rest for a few days. In Chattanooga, Bryanalso correctedproofs of his 15,000-wordspeech, Not surprisingly, anti-evolutionists made Bryan a which he hoped would ensure support for an anti- martyr. Fundamentalistscompared Bryan to Christ, evolution amendment to the U.S. Constitution,6and and Scopes' defense team to King Herod, Pontius maybe even lead to the formation of a new political Pilate, and other biblical villains (see discussion in party that would revive his faded hopes for the de Camp 1968).Governor Peay proclaimedthat Bryan presidency.