Curtis also submitted a letter from 
Bryan’s old boss Woodrow Wilson: “Of 
course, like every other man of intelli- 
gence and education, I do believe in 
organic evolution. It surprises me that at 
this late date such questions should be 
raised.” Ronald Reagan, however, 
raised them on the stump before a fun- 
damentalist crowd in Dallas. 
I learned something in Dayton, or 
rather, remembered something I should 
never have forgotten, while sipping that 
50 Coke around the original table in 
Robinsons’ Drug Store. The enemy is 
not fundamentalism; it is intolerance. In 
this case, the intolerance is perverse 
since it masquerades under the “liberal” 
rhetoric of “equal time.” But mistake it 
not. Creationists are trying to impose a 
specific religious view by legislative fiat 
upon teachers who reject it both by 
conscience and training. For all their 
talk about weighing both sides (a mere 
matter of political expediency), they 
would also substitute biblical authority 
for free scientific inquiry as a source of 
empirical knowledge. 
All the commentators at Dayton, in- 
cluding the caustic H.L. Mencken him- 
self, noted that the local people, al- 
though secure in their creationist 
beliefs, showed no intolerance or even 
discourtesy to the opposition. They feted 
Bryan when he arrived in town, and they 
provided a spread of equal size for Dar- 
row. They applauded Malone on the 
merits of his speech. Mencken wrote: 
Nor is there any evidence in the town of 
that poisonous spirit which usually shows 
itself when Christian men gather to defend 
the great doctrine of their faith. I have 
heard absolutely no whisper that Scopes is 
in the pay of the Jesuits, or that the whisky 
trust is backing him, or that he is egged on 
by the Jews who manufacture lascivious 
moving pictures. On the contrary, the Evo- 
lutionists and the Anti-Evolutionists seem 
to be on the best of terms and it is hard in a 
group to distinguish one from the other. 
Dayton has persevered in its geniality. 
1 encountered warm disagreement with 
my evolutionary views, but 1 sensed no 
disrespect for my opinions and no incli- 
nation to demote me as a person because 
1 disagreed with a favored belief. Ge- 
niality of this sort is widespread but, 
alas, so fragile. A few seeds of ugliness 
and intolerance can generate the cover 
The twelve-day trial began inside 
Dayton’s Rhea County courthouse 
but ended on a side lawn. 
18 
