American inquisitors; a commentary on Dayton and Chicago

In the aftermath of two explosive trials that divided America, Walter Lippmann turned his penetrating intellect to a question that remains urgent: what happens when democratic majorities decide what can be taught? The Scopes Trial in Tennessee and the McAndrews case in Chicago became flashpoints in the nation's culture wars, as educators faced prosecution for daring to teach evolution. Lippmann, the era's most incisive political commentator, saw these trials as symptoms of a deeper ailment: the collision between raw democratic power and the fragile domain of independent thought and scientific inquiry. His analysis dissects how majorities, whipped into righteous fury, can become instruments of intellectual suppression. Written in 1927, this slim but devastating commentary argues that democracy cannot thrive when popular sentiment overrides reasoned expertise. Its warnings about the dangers of populist majoritarianism echo with startling clarity in every era's battles over what gets taught, who decides, and what price intellectuals pay for speaking truth to power.