William Jennings Bryan (seated at left) being interrogated by Clarence Darrow, during the trial of State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes, July 20, 1925. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch was a major source for The Tennessean's "Trial of the century: Why 100 years later, the Scopes case still matters" (July 10, 2025).
Branch described the genesis of the case, saying, "The American Civil Liberties Union, which was then just a baby organization, got wind of [the law] and decided this was a fight they wanted to pick. So they sent letters to Tennessee newspapers saying that they were looking for a teacher who would be willing to be a defendant in the test case of the Butler Act."
Branch also commented on Clarence Darrow's examination of William Jennings Bryan, who agreed to serve as an expert witness on the Bible. "Darrow was quite relentless," he noted, "and in many people's opinion, especially the big city reporters, Bryan came across not only as ignorant, but as complacent about his ignorance."
Also quoted were Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Edward J. Larson of Pepperdine University, a recipient of NCSE's Friend of Darwin award.
