Who was the United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school?

• A. Clarence Darrow
• B. John T. Scopes
• C. William Jennings Bryan
• D. Henry Ford

Answer: (C)

The person is William Jennings Bryan. He was a prominent politician known for advocating free silver, the idea of expanding the money supply by coining silver to help farmers and working people. He also acted as the prosecutor in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, which challenged a Tennessee law that prohibited teaching human evolution in public schools. So he ties together both clues in the question: his stance on free silver and his role as the prosecuting attorney in the Scopes case. For context, Clarence Darrow was the defense lawyer for John T. Scopes, who was the teacher accused of teaching evolution, while Henry Ford had no involvement in the trial.