His practice proved to be financially unsuccessful and Bryan moved his family west to Lincoln, Nebraska, following rumors of greater career opportunities.

After moving to Nebraska, Bryan became interested in politics and served as a congressman for five years. In 1895, following an unsuccessful bid for Senate, Bryan found himself unemployed and reverted to his talents in oratory. He entered the paid lecture circuit and began to travel all over the country delivering lectures on social, political, and economic issues. Bryan also received the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 1896, 1900, and 1908. He lost all three elections, but Woodrow Wilson later appointed Bryan to his cabinet to serve as Secretary of State. However, Bryan resigned from the position two short years later in 1915 to lead large peace rallies in New York City.

After several years of lecturing, often giving the same memorized speech dozens of times, Bryan was requested to assist in prosecuting a case that would later come to be known as "The Scopes Trial." A high school biology teacher, John Scopes, had agreed to help test a Tennessee law prohibiting the teaching of any theories that contradicted creationism. Scopes was going to be represented by a team led by experienced attorney Clarence Darrow. Despite caveats from friends and family, regarding his poor health and a thirty-year absence from the practice of law, Bryan agreed to help prosecute Scopes. As a lifelong Baptist, Bryan stubbornly argued that he wished to defend his Christian faith one last time.

The trial began on a hot July day in Dayton, Tennessee, where Bryan dismissed Darrow's First Amendment arguments and counter-argued that he was attempting to protect parents' rights to safeguard their children's religious views. In a fatal strategic move for Bryan, he agreed to allow Darrow to question him on the witness stand regarding his religious views. Darrow publicly humiliated Bryan during the questioning, but Bryan remained optimistic that he could regain credibility during his ninety minute prepared closing argument. Bryan's summation was not heard in the courtroom, because in lieu of a closing argument, Darrow pleaded Scopes' guilt. As a result, closing arguments were waived, and the jury returned a guilty verdict in nine minutes. After the trial, Bryan made arrangements to have his undelivered summation speech printed in the newspaper and planned to deliver it to live audiences. However, he died from complications to his diabetes five days after the trial and was buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Born Issur Danielovitch Demsky (later changed to Isadore Demsky) December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, NY

Inherit the Wind [1988] [TV] ~~ Matthew Harrison Brady

In 1991, Douglas was a passenger in a helicopter that collided with a small plane in California, killing the pilot and a young trainee instantly. Feeling guilty at his own survival and haunted by the tragedy, Douglas began to question the meaning of his life. Although he had explored his past as the son of a Russian Jewish ragman in his autobiography, Douglas had never been a practicing Jew and had never celebrated his religion's traditions. The accident changed him spiritually as well as physically. He began to ask himself why he had survived the accident while the two young people had died.

During his recovery from his injuries, he began to feel a strong pull back to the Judaism of his birth. Since then Douglas has been studying the Talmud and the Torah and continues to rediscover the Jewish religion. Douglas told Graham Fuller in Interview, "In my case I was born a Jew, but I neglected it for sixty years, and then it was suddenly awakened and I became a strong Jew, yet in a secular way."

In 1995, his faith was put to the test when he suffered a stroke. What started as a slight pain down his cheek left him without the power of speech. After a year of exhausting physical therapy and debilitating bouts of depression, he started working and writing again.

Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning, a continuation of The Ragman's Son, came out of this period of personal crisis. Douglas tells how Bible stories and texts helped him cope with the many setbacks of recovery and taught him that spiritual growth comes out of adversity. The book culminates in his triumphant appearance at the 1996 Academy Awards to receive a lifetime achievement Oscar from his oldest son, Michael.
(neat trivia page)

 

Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones in, CHICAGO