[0:00]Hello, today we're going to talk about the Scopes Monkey Trial. In 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, the economy was tanking. George Rappleyea was a lawyer. One day, he saw an open letter in the newspaper. The ACLU, which is a new organization, offers to represent any teacher that wants to challenge the new Tennessee state law that forbids the teaching of evolution. This gives George an idea. Hey, if someone locally challenged this law, it could become the trial of the century and it could help the economy in our little town that nobody knows about. George Rappleyea, who I want to call Appleyay because it's the only way I can remember his name. Apple, yay! But his name is Rappleyea. Right. Don't call him Appleyay. Okay, I call him Rappleyea. So, they pitched this idea to John Scopes of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Isn't it terrible that there's this law? You're a science teacher. Yeah, I'm a football coach. I also took I'm a football coach. I also teach a little science and I personally believe in evolution. The ACLU, they hire the greatest defense attorney, probably ever, Clarence Darrow. Public schools should teach science and facts. That's, that's what I think. William Jennings Bryan comes in to fight for the Tennessee State statute, which he inspired. You can't teach evolution. Yeah, legally you can't teach it. On the first day of the Scopes Monkey Trial, Williams Jenning Brian. Why does that not sound like I'm saying it right? Williams Jennings Brian. Says to the court, if evolution wins, Christianity goes. And to that, Clarence Darrow argued that scopes is on trial, civilization is on trial. This was like a boxing match. This was the trial of the century, and for the first time, people were able to hear a trial on their radios. There was a point in the trial in which Clarence Darrow asked scientists to explain the theory of evolution. But the judge in the Scopes Monkey trial was John Raulston, and he believed, I have been called on by God to be the judge in this case. So, I don't care what all these scientists have to say. They can't give testimony. So Clarence Darrow decided, okay, all my witnesses, they can't give testimony, so I'll ask someone who's an expert on the Bible to give testimony. Hey, William Jennings Brian, I know you're on the other side of this case, but why don't you go on the witness stand and I'll question you about the Bible.
[3:22]Now William Jennings Brian was so excited about this. He was like, oh my god, I'm gonna destroy you as a witness. I will go on the witness stand. Now the judge didn't want him to do this. The judge was prejudicial.
[3:43]When Clarence Darrow puts William Jennings Brian on the Bible, he asks, do you believe all the stories of the Bible literally? And the first answer of William Jennings Brian is yes. The Bible is literal. I believe in it literally. And then asking him specific questions, where did Cain's wife come from? He made Adam and Eve, and then all of a sudden there are other people, and Cain finds a wife. Where did, where did Cain's wife come from? William Jennings Brian gets flustered and says, well, I, I leave that up to you agnostics to find out. That's all Clarence Darrow needed. So you're not interpreting the Bible literally. Clarence Darrow goes on to destroy William Jennings Brian on facts. Are you still spinning or how do you feel? Well, I'm, I'm dizzy. I feel weird. I feel like I think I know where I'm going, and then I get utterly confused about where I thought I was going. Oh, no. I'm going to get Facebook responses for this. This was the complete destruction of William Jennings Brian, and William Jennings Brian looks like a fool. But William Jennings Brian knows, I have the most amazing closing argument to make. So, the entire country listening to the radio agrees. Clarence Darrow just mopped the floor with William Jennings Brian. But William Jennings Brian has the most amazing closing argument to make. Unfortunately for him, Clarence Darrow also knows that he probably has a pretty amazing closing argument. So when the judge asks, Clarence Darrow says, I don't want to make a closing argument. By law, William Jennings Brian now cannot make his closing argument. He was like, you scumbag, you know what a scumbag you're being right now. He was just humiliated, and now he can't even make the closing argument he's been working on for the entire trial. Because he knew that at least in the minds of those listening to the trial on the radio, he had won. And that's all he wanted because he knew he was going to lose. He wanted to lose so that a higher court could decide on this bigger law. Six days after the trial, William Jennings Brian died. And the press reported that William Jennings Brian didn't die of diabetes, he died of a broken heart. You think they were right? No, I think he died of diabetes. Perfect ending.
