WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN LECTURES ON DARWINISM
New York City (JFK+50) On April 2, 1922, three-time unsuccessful candidate for POTUS William Jennings Bryan* "lectured on Darwinism** to an audience of six-thousand...at the Hippodrome here in New York City."
The famous orator "had some picturesque phrases at his disposal." One was in response to criticisms by a Princeton professor.
Mr. Bryan said...
"I am in favor of mud because I am familiar with it. Everything I eat comes from the mud. What's a monkey ever done for (Professor) Conkling that he should lavish his affection on him."
*William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was born in Salem, Illinois & was educated at Illinois College. WJB served in U.S. House of Representatives 1891-1895 & as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. He was a presidential candidate in 1896, 1900 & 1908 & assisted the prosecution of John T. Scopes in the "Monkey Trial" held in Dayton, TN in 1925.
**Darwinism is the theory developed by Charles Darwin which claims all species arise & develop through natural selection of inherited variations which increase their ability to compete, survive & reproduce.
SOURCE
"Bryan Prefers Mud to Monkey In Hunt for Primal Ancestry," The New York Tribune, April 3, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
