Clarance Darrow

by Miriam Gurko

At the peak of his career in the 1920s, Clarence Darrow was the most famous trial lawyer in the United States. He grew up in Ohio and began practicing law there in 1878, settling in Chicago, Illinois in 1888 as the corporate counsel for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. In 1894 he switched sides and resigned from the railroad to represent union leader Eugene Debs, who had been indicted in a conspiracy case. For the rest of his career, Darrow was known as a champion of the underdog, nationally famous for his strident opposition to capital punishment and as the defense counsel in two of the biggest trials of the the murder trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (1924), and the so-called "Monkey Trial" of John Scopes, a schoolteacher barred from teaching evolution (1925). Darrow's oratorical skills and quick wit made him famous in and out of the courtroom, and he was a hero in intellectual circles for his progressive politics. He retired from regular practice in 1927 to devote his time to lecturing on law, social issues and religion.

Hardcover

First published June 1, 1965