Clash between Science and Monkey Business: Decline of Fundamentalism from the Democratic Party Politics after the Scopes Trial

Year 2018, Issue: 49, 77 - 100, 01.10.2018

Murat İplikçi

Abstract

In 1925, a small legal case occurred in Dayton, Tennessee, which came to the fore in the United States. In this case, known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, John T. Scopes, a biology teacher in a high school in Dayton, was accused of violating the law by teaching Darwin’s evolution theory. Fundamentalists believed that this theory was a law of hate, while the liberal aspect approached it as a matter of freedom of thought. This clash turned into a showdown in the Democratic Party, by the representation of two wings of this party in this trial. While William Jennings Bryan, a religious fundamentalist, a three-time presidential candidate of the Democrats was the accuser, liberal Democrat lawyer Clarence Darrow was the defender. Bryan and Darrow stepped forward in this trial, as the representatives of the different wings of the Democratic Party, which was in a crisis of identity in the 1920s. Although Scopes was convicted of a 100-dollar penalty, this was not perceived as a victory of the fundamentalism in the American society, specifically in the Democratic Party. After that trial, the decline of the fundamentalist type of politics and politicians in the party began. In the second part of the 1920s, the fundamentalists took only the backseat in the Democratic Party. Firstly, the fundamentalist leader Bryan passed away with a broken heart after the trial. Secondly, leaderless fundamentalists tried to pass anti-evolutionist legislations in the Midwest and South; however, they could not succeed. In the end, the nomination of the Al Smith, a liberal, progressive character as the presidential candidate of 1928, pushed the fundamentalists aside. Therefore, this article aims to evaluate the fundamentalist aspect in the Democratic Party politics and its transformation throughout the 1920s, over the Scopes Trial debates and its consequences

Keywords

Fundamentalism, liberalism, anti-evolution, Democratic Party

Bilim ve Maymun Davasının Çatışması: Scopes Davası Sonrasında Demokrat Partide Muhafazakârlık Politikalarında Gerileme

Abstract

1925 yılında Dayton, Tennessee’de görülen küçük bir dava bir anda Birleşik Devletler gündemine oturdu. Maymun Davası olarak bilinen bu davada, John Scopes adlı, Dayton’daki bir lise biyoloji öğretmeni Darwin’in evrim kuramını öğreterek kanunu çiğnemekle suçlanıyordu. Köktenciler, bu kuramın muhafazakârlığa karşı bir nefret kuramı olduğuna inanıyor ancak karşılarındakiler ise bunu düşünce özgürlüğü ile bağdaştırıyordu. Davanın her iki tarafında bulunan iki Demokrat Parti kanadı, bu çatışmanın bir parti içi mücadeleye dönüşmesine sebep oldu. Köktenci ve üç kere Demokrat Parti başkan adayı olan William Jennings Bryan davacı olurken, özgürlükçü Demokrat avukat Clarence Darrow savunmayı üstlendi. Böylece Demokrat Parti’nin özgürlükçü kanadı ve köktenci kanadı bu davada karşı karşıya geldi. Davanın sonunda her ne kadar Scopes 100 dolar gibi küçük bir cezaya çarptırılsa da bu köktencilerin kesin bir zaferi olarak algılanmadı. Aksine bu davadan sonra köktencilik Demokrat Parti içerisinde büyük bir yara aldı. 1920’li yılların ikinci yarısında köktenciler parti içerisinde geri plana geçti. Önce, köktencilerin lideri Bryan davadan hemen sonra kederinden hayatını kaybetti. Sonrasında, lidersiz kalan köktenciler evrim karşıtı kanunları, özellikle orta batı ve güney eyaletlerinde, kabul ettiremediler. Sonunda ise ilerici, özgürlükçü Demokrat Al Smith’in 1928’de partinin başkan adayı olması ile iyice geri çekilmek zorunda kaldılar. Bu makale, köktenciliğin Demokrat Parti içerisindeki yerini, 1920’lerdeki dönüşümünü ve Scopes Davası’nın getirdiği tartışmaları ve sonuçları değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır

Keywords

Köktencilik, özgürlükçülük, evrim karşıtlığı, Demokrat Parti

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