- Born
- Died
- Birth nameClarence Seward Darrow
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Generally considered to be the most brilliant legal mind in the history of American jurisprudence, Clarence Seward Darrow was born in Kinsma, OH, in 1857, the son of a failed minister who became a furniture-store owner and an intellectual but religiously puritanical mother. In 1873 he attended Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, but the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1873 swept the US that year, and Darrow was forced to leave school and find work--first in a factory, then in a store, and finally he spent three cold winters teaching in a country school.
At age 19 he entered the University of Michigan to study law, and was admitted to the bar at age 21. He began his first law practice in Andover, OH, then went to Ashtabula. After several successful years there he moved to Chicago in 1888. It was there he read and was greatly influenced by John P. Altgeld's "Our Penal Code and Its Victims", which reinforced many ideas he already had about the law and crime--that poverty is a cause of crime, not a result of it, and, most importantly to him, that the death penalty was what he blasted as "organized, legal murder". He put his energies into his causes and took on some of the most controversial cases of the day--defending and winning an acquittal for socialist and labor organizer Eugene V. Debs following the American Railway Union strike; getting acquittals on trumped-up murder charges for three Western Federation of Miners officials, including "Big Bill" Haywood, a firebrand labor organizer. His most famous case, though, involved the "Scopes Monkey Trial", in which he defended a teacher in Tennessee who--in violation of state law--dared to teach that the theory of evolution was valid. The trial attracted worldwide attention, and Darrow found himself up against the famous lawyer and politician William Jennings Bryan, a conservative ideologue with a reputation to equal his. Darrow lost that case, but it resulted in the overturning of that particular law, and the ensuing ridicule heaped upon it resulted in similar legislation in other states being overturned.
In addition to his activities as a lawyer, Darrow was also a writer, and in 1899 he edited a collection of his essays, called "The Persian Pearl". In 1906 he wrote "Farmington", an account of his childhood. He also wrote several sociological treatises, including "Resist Not Evil" in 1903 and "An Eye for an Eye" in 1904, and in 1922 wrote what is considered his best-known work: "Crime: Its Cause and Treatment". He didn't wrote solely on legal topics, however; he came out with "Infidels and Heretics: An Agnostic's Anthology" in 1929. His full autobiography, "The Story of My Life", which he called "a plain unvarnished account of how things really have happened, as nearly as I can possibly hold to the truth", was published in 1932.
Clarence Darrow was married twice--to Jesse Ohl, with whom he had a son, Paul, and whom he divorced in 1897, and later to Ruby Hammerstrom, who survived him. He died in 1938 in Chicago, IL.- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com - Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century. He was a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform.
Clarence Darrow's wit and eloquence made him one of the most prominent attorneys in the nation. He defended high-profile clients in many famous trials of the early 20th century, in which he opposed statesman and orator William Jennings Bryan; and Ossian Sweet in a self-defense case (1926).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tango Papa
- SpousesJessie Ohl(April 15, 1880 - 1897) (divorced, 1 child)Ruby Hammerstrom(? - 1938) (his death)
- He was brought in as the defense's lead attorney in the renowned "Scopes Monkey Trial" in Tennessee in 1925, and as such was the basis of the character Henry Drummond in the play and various film and TV versions of Inherit the Wind (1960).
- His hobby was doing crossword puzzles, which grew into a near-obsession. Once he was so intent on finishing a crossword puzzle while on his way to court, he had a policeman lead him by the arm so he wouldn't have to take his eyes off the puzzle.
- America's most famous defense attorney in the early 20th century, known for representing murderers (including Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb), Communists and anarchists.
- He was the basis for the character Jonathan Wilk in the book and film Compulsion (1959), which was based on the Nathan Leopold-Richard Loeb case.
- I have never taken anybody's life but I have read obituary notices with considerable satisfaction.
- When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I'm beginning to believe it.
- Every human being that believes in capital punishment loves killing, and the only reason they believe in capital punishment is because they get a kick out of it.
- The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom. Skepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom.
- A criminal is a person with predatory instincts; but, without sufficient capital to form a corporation.
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