The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
And let me digress for a moment merely to say-
that there is no claim made here that the fact Leopold
believes he is a superman entitles him to any
consideration for his philosophy. We are not here
to defend his philosophy.
What we claim is, if the court please, that the be-
lief shows he is mentally diseased; that his mind is
not functioning properly; that he has the tendencies
of what is called a paranoid personality.
I call your Honor's attention to the letter dated
October lo, 1923, written by Nathan Leopold, Jr.,
to his co-defendant, Richard Loeb.*
Here is a letter, if your Honor please, in which a
superman in his own estimation — which is signifi-
cant not because he is but because he thinks he is
— lays down the code to be obeyed by his com-
panion, Richard Loeb, whom he generously also
allows to go under the designation of superman, but
for whom he, Leopold, establishes a code of conduct.
In addition to the evidence contained in this letter
you have the testimony of the various fellow students
of Leopold at the University of Chicago, who
testified to conversations with him in which he
stated his conception of the superman, his philos-
ophy of Hedonism, his individualistic philosophy,
the fact that he had a right to do anything if it
pleased him.
The fact that he felt that he could live out such
* Editor's Note. — The letter here referred to by Mr. Bach-
rach is printed in full beginning on page 222 of this volume.
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