Encyclopedia of Evolution.pdf - Online Reading Center

Scopes Trial
The two principal figures in the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee,
were Clarence Darrow (left) and William Jennings Bryan. (Courtesy of
the Granger Collection)
three-time presidential candidate, and renowned speaker and
defender of Christian orthodoxy. Clarence Darrow was just
as famous as a lawyer who was willing to work for unpopular
defendants. He had just finished defending Nathan Leopold
and Richard Loeb, two young men who had murdered
another young man, in a trial that gave Darrow national
notoriety. The attention that the trial received was enhanced
by the reports written by the famous antireligious writer H. L.
Mencken.
Several subsequent court cases regarding the teaching
of evolution have gained national attention, but none
have involved the prosecution of a teacher. In 1968 science
teacher Susan Epperson sued the state of Arkansas on
account of its law that prohibited her from teaching evolution
(see photo below). The case eventually went to the
Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor. Arkansas again
came to national attention in 1981 in the case of McLean
v. Arkansas Board of Education, in which a science teacher
sued the state because of a law that mandated equal time
for the teaching of evolution and creationism. Arkansas
federal judge William R. Overton ruled in favor of the science
teacher in early 1982. Most recent activity regarding
the mandating of alternatives to evolutionary science in the
classroom has involved decisions by state boards of education,
as in Kansas in 1999 and 2005, and the imposition of
stickers on textbooks warning students to not believe the
evolution contained therein. None of these events has had
the drama of the original Scopes Trial, which was viewed
as suppression of modern science by old-time religion and
was inevitably compared with the ecclesiastical trial of Italian
astronomer Galileo Galilei for his belief that the Earth
revolved around the Sun. The legacy of the Scopes Trial for
evolutionary science and education in the United States has
far exceeded the actual consequences for the people directly
involved or the community of Dayton. John T. Scopes spent
a successful career as a geologist, and life in Dayton quickly
returned to normal.
Most people know about the Scopes Trial from Inherit
the Wind, a stage and screenplay written by Jerome Lawrence
and Robert E. Lee. This encyclopedia entry makes extensive
reference to Inherit the Wind, not just because it remains a
famous movie but because it allows an analysis of the Scopes
Trial. The title of the movie refers to a biblical passage in the
Proverbs of Solomon: “He who troubles his own house shall
inherit the wind,” and strongly implies that fundamentalist
antagonism toward modern science, as expressed by the
citizens of Hillsboro (the fictitious name for Dayton), is futile
and destructive. This play and movies subsequently made
from it have been immensely popular and remained in continuous
production.
The play was finished in 1950, in the midst of the frenzy
associated with the anticommunist interrogations by U.S.
Senator Joseph McCarthy, but it did not debut until 1955, in
the Dallas Theatre. It ran as an immensely successful Broadway
play, followed by a major motion picture by MGM in
1960, directed by Stanley Kramer. Its immediate popularity
resulted largely from the fear of possible McCarthy-era state
control of scientific and social thought. In the movie trailer,
Kramer makes it clear that Inherit the Wind is important for
far more than its entertainment value.
The 1960 movie won many awards worldwide (such
as the Berlin Festival, where German teenagers honored it).
Its fame resulted not only from the excellent screenplay and
striking cinematography but also from the all-star cast: Fredric
March played Matthew Harrison Brady, the fictitious
William Jennings Bryan; Spencer Tracy played Henry Drummond,
the fictitious Clarence Darrow; Gene Kelly played E.
K. Hornbeck, the fictitious H. L. Mencken; Dick York (later
Susan Epperson (right) won a Supreme Court case in against an
Arkansas law that prohibited the teaching of evolution. Writer Jerry R.
Tompkins arranged for Susan Epperson to meet John T. Scopes (left) in
. (Courtesy of Jerry R. Tompkins)