Clarence Darrow – 1875-1938

Through a long legal career, Darrow earned a reputation as a brilliant attorney defending liberal causes and unpopular people.
He was one of the defenders of the Haymarket rioters charged with murder May 4, 1886); he defended socialist labor leader Eugene V. Debs, charged with contempt of court for his leadership of the great Pullman Strike (May–July 1894); he secured acquittal for International Workers of the World (IWW) leader William D. (“Big Bill”) Haywood on murder charges; he defended antiwar protesters in World War I; he saved the infamous child murderers Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold from execution in 1924; and, in 1925, he defended teacher John T. Scopes, who had violated Tennessee state law by teaching the Theory of Evolution.