The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
Of course his family did not understand him; few
men would. His mother died when he was young;
he had plenty of money; everything was given to
him that he wanted. Both these boys with unlimited
money; both these boys with automobiles; both of
these boys with every luxury around them and in
front of them. They grew up in this environment.
Babe took up philosophy. I call him Babe, not
because I want it to affect your Honor, but because
everybody else does. He is the youngest of the
family and I suppose that is why he got his nickname.
Mr. Crowe thinks it is easier to hang a man
than a boy, and so I will call him a man if I can
think of it. He grew up in this way. He became
enamoured of the philosophy of Nietzsche.
Your Honor, I have read almost everything that
Nietzsche ever wrote. He was a man of a wonder-
ful intellect; the most original philosopher of the
last century. A man who probably has made a
deeper imprint on philosophy than any other man
within a hundred years, whether right or wrong.
Alore books have been written about him than prob-
ably all the rest of the philosophers in a hundred
years. More college professors have talked about
him. In a way he has reached more people, and
still he has been a philosopher of what we might
call the intellectual cult. Nietzsche believed that
sometime the superman would be born, that evolu-
tion was working toward the superman.
He wrote one book, " Beyond Good and Evil,"
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