Who was W J Bryan? ('Bad Faith' #21)
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One of the most famous trials in America happened in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925.
Schoolteacher John Scopes was put on trial because he had broken a state law, and taught the theory of Evolution to his high school class. The legend has it that in the trial that followed, Scopes was vindicated, and the prosecutors were made to look stupid.
The prosecution was led by William Jennings Bryan. According to the legend, Bryan was an ignorant, Bible-thumping fundamentalist. But who was he really?
Bryan was not a fool or a villain. He had been nominated three times as the Democrats’ candidate for President of the USA; he had served as Secretary of State. He was not an ignorant, Bible-thumping fundamentalist: he was an educated man, a social liberal, a leading lawyer, and a well-known public speaker.
With Professor Edward J Larson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Summer for the Gods: the Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion,' and the Hugh & Hazel Darling Professor of Law at Pepperdine University, USA.
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