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wrote a short article titled “Women”
Darrow wrote a short article titled “Women” in which he criticized discrimination against women that was published in the July issue of Belfords’ Magazine. -
Sunset Club
Darrow also joined the Sunset Club in Chicago which was created to “foster rational good fellowship and tolerant discussion among business and professional men of all classes.” Membership was open to “[a]ny genial and tolerant fellow . . . on approval of the executive committee.” It met at a dinner once a month on a Thursday evening to hear short talks on topics selected by the secretary. Darrow became a member of the executive committee.The Sunset Club’s membership reflected a wide variety of -
Darrow and Others Pressure Altgeld to Pardon Haymarket Defendants
Darrow arrived in Chicago just about a year after the infamous Haymarket trial. After the remaining defendants exhausted their appeals to the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court, Republican Governor Richard James Oglesby commuted their sentences to life in prison. After Altgeld assumed the governorship in 1893 he faced considerable pressure from the political left to pardon the remaining Haymarket defendants. Darrow personally pressured Altgeld numerous times to issue a pa -
In March 1894 Darrow became involved in political battle in Chicago.
In March 1894 Darrow became involved in political battle in Chicago. Darrow and other lawyers represented Billy "The Clock" Skakel who was trying to defeat his boss "Bathhouse" John Coughlin in an election for alderman in Chicago's First Ward. -
a speech to a black audience at the Men’s Club in Chicago
On May 19, 1901 Darrow gave a speech to a black audience at the Men’s Club in Chicago titled The Problem of the Negro. Darrow was characteristically pessimistic about race relations. He also made remarks that were very controversial at the time when he discussed interracial marriage. He believed it was the “final question of the race problem” and he asked “Is there any reason why a white girl should not marry a man with African blood in his veins, or is there any reason why a white man should no -
Darrow Again Runs For Political Office
Darrow ran on a platform of public ownership of utilities, home rule for municipalities, support of initiatives and referendum and nomination by direct vote of the people. He was endorsed by the Chicago Daily News. Darrow won the election in November 1902, although he could not take his seat for several weeks because he was working on behalf of the coal miners before the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission. -
Darrow Declines Running for Mayor of Chicago
The Chicago mayoral election was scheduled for April 1903 and the Union Labor Party and asked Darrow to run for mayor.57 There was a great deal of discussion about Darrow’s potential candidacy in the newspapers but Darrow declined to run because he thought it would split the progressive vote and allow a Republican to win. -
NAACP
Because of his advocacy of equal rights for blacks, Darrow was invited to speak at the second annual National Negro Conference held in New York from May 12 to 14, 1910.
At this meeting the National Negro Conference adopted a plan of permanent organization and became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). -
a lecture on Industrial Conspiracies in Portland Oregon
On September 12 Darrow gave a lecture on Industrial Conspiracies in Portland Oregon. His speech was later published. In December Darrow gave an address about the abolitionist John Brown at the Radical Club in San Francisco. -
Red Scare
Following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the end of World War I in November 1918, a “Red Scare” took place in the United States. Communists, socialists and anarchists were viewed as threats capable of inciting the overthrow of the United States government. This was the first Red Scare period, which is distinct from the McCarthy period in the 1940s and 1950s.On June 2, 1919 two people were killed when bombs were set off simultaneously in eight cities across the country. On -
a secret convention of the Communist Party of America being held in the woods in Bridgman Michigan was raided by federal and state law enforcement agents
On August 1922 a secret convention of the Communist Party of America being held in the woods in Bridgman Michigan was raided by federal and state law enforcement agents. They were charged with violating Michigan’s criminal syndicalist law. It was reported in January 1923 that Clarence Darrow and Frank Walsh would head their defense. -
published a book
At age 65 Darrow published a book Crime: Its Cause and Treatment. The book presents Darrow’s mechanistic views about human behavior and refutes free will. Darrow also wrote about the relatively new medical science of endocrinology that he believed offered insights into how secretions of ductless glands in the body affect human behavior. -
Leopold and Loeb
On May 21, 1924 Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered fourteen year old Bobby Franks in Chicago. They were soon arrested and confessed. Their families hired Darrow to try and save them from execution. Darrow and his co- counsel shocked the court and the nation when they had their clients plead guilty. Darrow realized there was overwhelming evidence against Leopold and Loeb and if they faced a trial they would be convicted and very likely executed. The defense strategy was to