Clarence Darrow

The Career of Clarence Darrow 

Often considered America’s greatest trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) remains a symbol of consummate courtroom skill. Born into a modest Ohio family, Darrow rose to play a significant role in many of the tumultuous social and political events that transformed America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1879, at the age of twenty-two, Darrow was admitted to practice in Ohio. But it was in burgeoning Chicago where he achieved fame. Moving there with his family in 1887, Darrow soon became one of the country’s most recognized labor attorneys and in the 1890s thrust himself into the heated conflicts between labor and industry. In 1894, he represented Eugene V. Debs, the leader of the American Railway Union who was prosecuted for leading the Pullman Strike. He also represented Wisconsin woodworkers in Oshkosh (1898), the United Mine Workers of Pennsylvania in the “great” anthracite coal strike of 1902, and labor unionists led by Bill Haywood, when the latter was charged for conspiring to murder Frank Steunenberg, the former Idaho governor (1906).

In 1911, Darrow defended two brothers charged in the deadly 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building. The brothers were spared the death penalty, but Darrow himself faced charges of attempted jury bribery. Though Darrow was not convicted, his relationship with labor organizations soured as a result. Nevertheless, Darrow continued to defend those accused of political crimes and remained a steadfast supporter of civil liberties. In his sixties, Darrow became the country’s most famous criminal defense attorney, aiding otherwise hopeless defendants in the face of impossible odds. When involved in a case at the trial stage, Darrow never lost a client to the death penalty. During the 1920s, he saved the lives of murderers Leopold and Loeb (1924) and successfully defended an African American doctor, Ossian Sweet, and his co-defendants against murder charges, on grounds of self-defense (1925-26). These and other cases brought Darrow celebrity status and added to his unmatched record in capital cases. 

Outside the courtroom, Darrow was a renowned public speaker, debater and controversialist, who published frequently on contemporary issues. A committed agnostic and pessimist, he upheld the right of free speech on unpopular and political subjects, promoted civil rights, opposed the death penalty and Prohibition, argued that crime was caused by external social forces, and attacked organized religion. His contrarian views, particularly in the 1920s during the height of his career, added to his notoriety and his towering status in the legal profession. Though he drew committed supporters and critics, few questioned his skill or his courage in defending his convictions. Darrow’s life and cases have been the subject of numerous biographies and movies, and he captured the American popular imagination as no other trial lawyer has.

The Clarence Darrow Collection at the Law Library

In 2004, the Law Library reached the significant milestone of one million volumes under the leadership of Joan S. Howland, the Roger F. Noreen Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Information and Technology. The millionth volume was fittingly celebrated with a cornerstone addition to the Law Library and Riesenfeld Rare Books Center. This was the acquisition of hundreds of letters written to and from Clarence Darrow, which were discovered by Darrow scholar Randy Tietjen, a Minneapolis attorney and partner at Robins Kaplan. The extraordinary collection, and a second part of it acquired several years later, has shed new light on Darrow’s trials, clients, life, and personal relationships. It has opened important new avenues for scholarly research, underscoring the exceptional character of the Library’s special collections. 

The Darrow collection continues to grow today, comprising more than 1,000 letters. This preeminent collection also features books, speeches, debates, trial documents, and other material by and about Darrow and his unparalleled career. In 2011, the Library released an award-winning digital research site, The Clarence Darrow Digital Collection, under the direction of Associate Law Library Director, Michael Hannon (’98). The digital collection serves to make available many of the Darrow letters in the Library’s collection, as well as extensive material on Darrow’s career and his major cases. Some of the highlights of the Library’s Clarence Darrow Collection are presented here, contextualizing the Scopes Trial and the incredible events that unfolded in Dayton in the summer of 1925.