Who served as the Prosecuting Attorney in the Scopes Trial?

William Jennings Bryan served as the Prosecuting Attorney in the Scopes Trial, which took place in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee. This trial gained national attention as it examined the legality of teaching evolution in public schools, challenging the Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.

Bryan was a prominent political figure and an advocate for fundamentalist Christianity, representing the prosecution in the case against John Scopes, a teacher accused of violating the Butler Act by teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. His involvement in the trial was emblematic of the larger cultural clash between modernist and traditionalist views during the 1920s.

In contrast, the other individuals mentioned did not serve as prosecutors. Clarence Darrow was the defense attorney for Scopes, advocating for academic freedom and the teaching of evolution. John Scopes was the teacher on trial, and H.L. Mencken was a journalist who reported on the trial but did not play a direct role in the prosecution or defense. Bryan's role as the prosecutor is significant in understanding the context of this landmark legal battle over science and religion in American education.