Day 1: The Most Interesting and Polarizing Man in Politics
William Jennings Bryan
AS WE MARK THE 100th anniversary of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, it’s impossible to grasp the spectacle that unfolded in the stifling Tennessee summer of 1925 without first understanding its central, larger-than-life figure: William Jennings Bryan. Long before he arrived in Dayton, Bryan was a political giant, and he remains one of the most controversial figures in U.S. history. He was, without question, a polarizing force. To understand the trial, we must first understand the man.
To his devoted followers, Bryan was “The Great Commoner,” a leader passionate about “fairness, faith, and the common man.” His résumé was almost too much to believe: lawyer, orator, congressman, publisher, and Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. At just 36 years old, he became the youngest man to run for president on a major party ticket. He revolutionized American politics in his 1896 campaign, becoming the first presidential candidate to take his message directly to the people. While his opponent, William McKinley, practiced traditional “front porch campaigning,” Bryan traveled more than 18,000 miles and delivered over 600 speeches to an estimated 5 million Americans. No one was ambivalent about Bryan.
However, his many detractors painted a starkly different picture. They described him as a “self-aggrandizing, publicity-seeking, ignorant, religious bigot.” The famed journalist H.L. Mencken, who covered the Scopes Trial, wrote a vicious obituary declaring Bryan “a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted.” For over 30 years in politics, he won many to his thinking while aggravating others “to the point of hatred.”
This was the man who came to Dayton. His involvement wasn't a sudden whim; it was the culmination of a long-held crusade. He had spoken against Darwinism for years and had already authored works like The Menace of Darwinism. To Bryan, evolution was not merely a scientific theory; it was a grave danger. He feared what was being called social Darwinism, the idea that the strong should prevail over the weak. He worried that Darwinism corrupted the youth of his day, and he felt it "pirated away the soul of every person who adopted its tenets."
The stage in Dayton was set for more than a simple legal dispute over a state law. It became the final, dramatic battleground for one of America's most formidable figures. Over the next 20 days, we will delve deeper into the man, the myths, and the monumental clash of ideas that defined his last stand.
