Born April 18, 1857 (Kinsman, Ohio)
Died March 13, 1938 (Chicago, Illinois)

Lawyer

Clarence Darrow was one of the most famous lawyers in U.S. history. Always a strong defender of the underdog and a winner of seemingly lost causes, Darrow played a leading role in some of the most extraordinary courtroom dramas of the 1920s. A lifelong opponent of capital punishment, he used testimony based on the new, modern science of psychology in a successful attempt to save murderers Nathan Leopold (1904–1971) and Richard Loeb (1905–1936) from execution. In the famous court battle known as the Monkey Trial, which involved the clash of religious and scientific views of the origin of humanity, Darrow defended the right of educator John Scopes (1900–1970) to teach his students about the theory of evolution.

A Young Ohio Lawyer

Born in the northeastern Ohio town of Kinsman in April 1857, Darrow was the son of Amirus and Emily...