Clarence Darrow's Unlikely Friend

By Robert Dean McNeil

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893075338
• ISBN13: 9781893075337
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Spirit Press, LLC
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Bright Minds and Issues that Remain Contemporary

Revised since the original, sold-out first edition, this biography of Clarence True Wilson is the most recent work penned by Robert Dean McNeil. In it, we learn that while Wilson's mission may have been the prohibition of alcohol, his legacy is best documented by his extraordinary friendship with Clarence Darrow. None of Darrow's biographers mention this remarkable companionship ... one that came about following Darrow's retirement. After tangling with William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial, in the `cultural debate of the century,' Darrow agreed to debate Wilson on "Should Prohibition be Repealed?" When Ruby Darrow met Wilson for the first time she said, "I cannot possibly know what you and my husband would have in common." Nevertheless Wilson, preacher and advocate for moral reform; and Darrow, agnostic and civil libertarian; developed a close friendship during their travels. The duo crossed the nation, debating 46 times, with crowds numbering in the thousands at each stop. Surveying an audience of 6,000 in Houston, Darrow once remarked to Wilson: "Do you know why such a large crowd? They came to see an infidel." When Darrow died, Wilson wrote, "There passed off the stage of action one of the most brilliant, witty, sincere, and true men, the greatest criminal lawyer of our age, and the most colorful personality we had since Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan passed on." The book is timely. Walter Cronkite has called the present form of Presidential debates an "unconscionable fraud." Americans clamor for a more meaningful forum for an exchange of ideas ... open to wider participation. Says McNeil, "Would that today our fellows brought to debate the spirit of friendship shown by Wilson and Darrow." Prohibition remains an issue, in the pubic debate over tobacco use and legalization of marijuana. These men's deft handling of free speech provides a contemporary model for today's society. In 1937, The Gresham Outlook called Wilson their `most famous citizen of all time.' Long after leaving the national stage, Wilson's values - through his daughter's philanthropy - continue to shape Oregon policy by way of the Collins Foundation. The `moral sentinel' Wilson founded, now called the United Methodist Building, remains the only private property on Capitol Hill. It has provided offices for Dr. Martin Luther King and lodging for Congress and court justices. Rev. McNeil will make himself available for book signings, lectures and other appearances.