the list of 9 for june 7, 2005:
THE NINE "TRIALS OF THE (20th) CENTURY"
The Michael Jackson molestation trial is nearly over as I write this. Possibly the only good thingthat can be said about the media's coverage of this is that nobody's been calling it the "Trial ofthe Century" - seeing as how we're only five years in. However, that appellation was franticallyused left and right during the last decades of the 20th century. O.J. Simpson! Patty Hearst! Whichgot me to thinking: What was the real trial of that century? As my friend Thomas Lakemanwrote me, "A classic trial needs to have three ingredients: a socially dividing issue (race,culture, politics, science), a title bout between lawyers (e.g., Darrow vs. Bryan), and asignificant legacy. Also, a whiff of scandal doesn't hurt." The results of my research: there's noone case that stands head and shoulders above the others. However, there are certainly nine strongcontenders. (And several more: Sacco-Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys, Mississippi Burning, Big BillHaywood, etc.) In chronological order:
- HARRY K. THAW, 1904. Pittsburgh millionaire Thaw wasmarried to beloved "Gibson girl" model/actress Evelyn Nesbit. When he discovered that Nesbit hadlost her virginity to famous architect Stanford White, Thaw murdered him at a packed MadisonSquare Garden restaurant, in full view of witnesses. The trial was a sensation. As Thomas wrote,"The case is remarkable since Thaw was the first man ever to be acquitted of murder by reason oftemporary insanity." It was later immortalized in E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime.
- FATTY ARBUCKLE, 1921-22. Decades before O.J., Roscoe"Fatty" Arbuckle, an incredibly popular silent film comedian, was accused of raping and murderingyoung actress Virginia Rappe. He was acquitted, but this event kicked off a series of Hollywoodscandals that eventually brought about the notorious "Hayes Code," where the U.S. governmentforced studios to clean up their movies.
- LEOPOLD & LOEB, 1924. Clarence Darrow was as legendary anattorney as they came, and this is one of his most famous cases (see also Scopes Monkey Trial,below). The trial of two wealthy teenagers who kidnapped and murdered a younger neighbor was fullof rich theatrical twists and turns. It was the story of the year.
- SCOPES "MONKEY" TRIAL, 1925. The importance of this trialis inarguable: John Scopes was a teacher in Tennessee who dared teach his students about Darwin'stheory of evolution (hence the "Monkey"), which opened up a huge can of worms in the Bible Belt. Theramifications of this outcome are still hotly debated to this day.
- THE LINDBERGH BABY KIDNAPPING, 1935. Charles Lindbergh wasa bona fide hero, and the world was horrified when his infant son was kidnapped - and latermurdered. When Bruno Hauptmann was fingered for the crimes (railroaded, in fact), his trialgripped a nation starved for drama in Depression-era America.
- NUREMBERG, 1945-46. This list is a little US-centric;let's not forget Australia's "Dingo" trial or, more importantly, China's "Gang of Four" Trial. Butfor the international touch on this list, you can't overlook the Nuremberg Trials. Though the warcrimes tribunal of former Nazi leaders was mostly, in retrospect, a mere formality to theirimprisonment and/or execution, at the time it not only allowed the world to find closure to thebloodiest war in history, but filled in the gaps of Nazi atrocities while most people were stillgenerally unaware that there even was a genocide behind the war.
- ALGER HISS, 1949-50. Not long after the Nazis weredefeated, a new enemy had to emerge to fill the so-called military industrial complex's thirst forendless war. Enter the Communists! Their first American scapegoat, Alger Hiss, made Red-baitingcongressman Richard Nixon a household name (as well as commie-hating senator Joseph McCarthy),gave increased prestige to the House of Unamerican Activities Committee, resulting in theblacklisting of countless leftists and even, some say, laying the stage for a resurgence inpolitical and social conservatism.
- THE ROSENBERGS, 1951. Of course, some American Communistswere actual threats to national security, like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who wereconvicted of espionage: sharing nuclear secrets with the Soviet Union. The public was fascinated bythis team of husband-and-wife spies, but it didn't save the Rosenbergs from the electric chair.
- EMMETT TILL'S MURDER. In 1955, a 14-year-old AfricanAmerican from Chicago named Emmett Till made the mistake of whistling at a white woman inMississippi. For that, the woman's husband and the husband's brother tortured and killed him. Anall-white jury quickly found the defendants innocent. Months later, the defendants proudlyconfessed their deed. National outrage over this - as well as over photos of the mutilated Till,whose mother insisted on an open coffin - spurred the Civil Rights movement. The Rodney King trialhad nothing on this.
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