They hate(d) FDR because he was right. Until America gets back to these principles, it is screwed.

[happyslug]

47. The Scoopes Monkey trial, all Democrats.

Last edited Wed Oct 1, 2014, 09:15 PM - Edit history (2)

The head of the Defense team, paid by the ACLU, had been Bryan's lieutenant when Bryan had been Secretary of State (The ACLU HATED how Darrow did the defense kept on sending him Telegraph to FIRE Darrow for his attack on Fundamentalism was NOT the Defense the ACLU wanted to present).

Now, Dayton Tennessee was then a solid GOP county in Tennessee. The Judge was a Republican, but the Attorney General of Tennessee was a Democrat (The Attorney General was in charge of the Prosecution NOT Bryan he was brought in just to provide the closing argument). The sides were NOT that hostile to each other, in fact one of Bryan's son AND the Defense team actually went to a nearby pond to cool down during a lunch break (It was in the Middle of Summer AND this is pre Air Conditioning, thus much of the trial occurred outdoors do to it being cooler then in the courthouse).

In the movie "Inherit the wind" they have the prosecutor giving a HUGE speech at the end of the case demanding jail time. The problem with this is several:

1. Bryan had actually lobbied the Tennessee Legislature NOT to impose a penalty on the proposed law. Bryan had written the proposed law but with NO PENALTY for any violation. Bryan's position was clear, Teachers were professionals and they would obey the law even i there was no punishment for violating it.

2. When Bryan came to Dayton he was the Guest of Honor at a dinner. Scoopes was also invited (unlike the Movie, in real life Scoopes NEVER spent a day in Jail). At the end of the Dinner, Bryan approached Scoopes and asked if he had the money to pay the fine, and if he did not Bryan would pay the fine. Scoopes then told Bryan the town had already to agreed to pay the fine when they asked him to say he, Scoopes, taught Human evolution (Scoopes would later say he never did, he was the WINNING Football Coach, Dayton talked Scoopes into saying he taught Human Evolution when Scoopes reviewed the Biology Class before Finals. The Biology teacher was sick the week of the review before the final so Scoopes did the review).

3. When Scoopes was talked into NOT denying he taught Human Evolution (The law are narrow, teaching of evolution was PERMITTED, it was the teaching of HUMAN EVOLUTION that was outlawed) the town of Dayton agreed to pay any costs in may incurred (in fact, contrary to the Movie, his job as Football Coach was RENEWED after the trial, he had been offered a Scholarship to go back to Collage so he declined the Renewal). Scoopes was popular before AND after the trial.

4. Darrow had refused to give a closing speech and under the rules of court of Tennesee of that time period, the Prosecution was also banned from giving such a closing argument. The speech in the play and Movie is suppose to be Bryan's last words to the Court. The problem is he never SPOKE any of the words of that speech, for Bryan NEVER was given a chance to give his closing argument. Now, after Scoopes was convicted, both sides were given an opporuntity to make a comments. The actual words Bryan spoke at that time I posted below and it is a call for further debate on the issue NOT a call for jail time.

Thus, Bryan COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR JAIL TIME for the simple reason the law ONLY imposed a fine, worse Bryan had offered to pay it. The issue was NEVER the actual punishment but the underlying issue of Majority Rule vs Science. Which should give in when they come into conflict? Before you say Science, remember the rationale for dictatorship is that it "can" be scientifically proved people are to stupid to rule themselves and thus only the elite should rule. Thus it is an ongoing conflict that is more then teaching of evolution.


Some more on that trial:

http://www.bradburyac.mistral.co.uk/tenness3.html#pww

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm

Here is the Speech Bryan NEVER was permitted to make

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/bs.htm

I always like Bryan final comment in the Trial, it sums up what we in DU are doing and hopefully will continue to do:

Bryan's final remarks at that Trial:

Bryan--I don't know that there is any special reason why I should add to what has been said, and yet the subject has been presented from so many viewpoints that I hope the court will pardon me if I mention a viewpoint that has not been referred to. Dayton is the center and the seat of this trial largely by circumstance. We are told that more words have been sent across the ocean by cable to Europe and Australia about this trial than has ever been sent by cable in regard to anything else happening in the United States. That isn't because the trial is held in Dayton. It isn't because a schoolteacher has been subjected to the danger of a fine $100.00 to $500.00, but I think illustrate how people can be drawn into prominence by attaching themselves to a great cause. Causes stir the world. It is because it goes deep. It is because it extends wide, and because it reaches into a future beyond the power of man to see. Here has been fought out a little case of little consequence as a case, but the world is interested because it raises an issue, and that issue will some day be settled right, whether it is settled on our side or the other side. It is going to be settled right. There can be no settlement of a great cause without discussion, and people will not discuss a cause until their attention is drawn to it, and the value of this trial is not in any incident of the trial, it is not because of anybody who is attached to it, either in an official way or as counsel on either side. Human beings are mighty small, your honor. We are apt to magnify the personal element and we sometimes become inflated with our importance, but the world little cares for man as an individual. He is born, he works, he dies, but causes go on forever, and we who participated in this case may congratulate ourselves that we have attached ourselves to a mighty issue.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/day8.htm