The Scopes Evolution Trial of 1925: What Really Happened, Part 2
Part 1 is here: https://www.garynorth.com/public/21581.cfm.
The issue was representation: Bryan vs. Darrow. The trial was a major public event. It asked Americans: "Which side are you on?" It asked them to choose sides.
Forgotten is this fact: William Jennings Bryan's brother Charles had been the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President in 1924. That was the influence of Bryan's name. Charles also controlled his brother's huge and profitable mailing list.
This was a showdown like no other in the 1920's: religious, cultural, social, political, and educational. It was a battle for political control over the academic content of the public schools, grades 1-12. It was therefore a battle for the future of America.
There were two well-known representatives doing battle. It was not like Prohibition, which had no representatives. People could hear this battle on the radio. This had never happened before . . . anywhere.
The battle still rages culturally. It was settled in the public schools only in the early 1980's. Evolution was not taught in biology courses in my day: the 1950's. Both sides in the 1925 showdown were in the shadows. Then the next showdown took place. The creationists lost.
This settled the political issue: the voters cannot legally determine what is taught in government schools. The educrats won. Democracy as a concept lost. That was the issue in 1925. It is still the issue today.
My mini-book on the trial is here: https://www.garynorth.com/RoadtoDayton.pdf.