The Verdict Is In: Famous Trials Through History
Instructions: From the Scopes Monkey Trial to the Nuremberg Tribunals, the courtrooms of history have witnessed some of the most dramatic — and consequential — moments of the 20th century. How well do you know the verdicts, the attorneys, and the stories behind them?
- 1.
The famous 'Scopes Monkey Trial,' in which a Tennessee schoolteacher was charged with illegally teaching evolution, took place in which year?
A1920B1925C1930D1932 - 2.
Which legendary defense attorney volunteered to represent John Scopes in the famous 1925 Monkey Trial?
AClarence DarrowBF. Lee BaileyCWilliam Jennings BryanDRobert La Follette - 3.
Which prominent politician — a three-time Democratic presidential candidate and gifted orator — joined the prosecution team in the Scopes Trial?
AHerbert HooverBRobert La FolletteCWilliam Jennings BryanDCharles Evans Hughes - 4.
The Salem Witch Trials — one of colonial America's darkest episodes of mass hysteria — took place in which year?
A1710B1650C1720D1692 - 5.
In which American state did the notorious Salem Witch Trials take place?
AMassachusettsBConnecticutCNew YorkDVirginia - 6.
The Nuremberg Trials brought Nazi leaders to justice after World War II. In which year were the verdicts handed down and sentences carried out?
A1945B1946C1947D1948 - 7.
Bruno Hauptmann was convicted in 1935 and executed in 1936 for what terrible crime involving one of America's most famous aviators?
AAttempted assassination of Charles LindberghBExtortion and blackmail of the Lindbergh familyCThe kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's infant sonDBreaking into and robbing the Lindbergh estate - 8.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953, becoming the first American civilians put to death during peacetime for what crime?
ATreason against the United StatesBMurder of a federal agentCCounterfeiting government documentsDConspiracy to commit espionage - 9.
In what year was O.J. Simpson found 'not guilty' of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, in a verdict watched by an estimated 100 million television viewers?
A1995B1993C1997D1999 - 10.
Who was O.J. Simpson's lead defense attorney, famous for the memorable courtroom phrase 'If it doesn't fit, you must acquit'?
AF. Lee BaileyBJohnnie CochranCMarcia ClarkDAlan Dershowitz - 11.
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants whose murder convictions sparked worldwide protests, were executed by electric chair in which year?
A1921B1923C1927D1931 - 12.
In 1895, the brilliant playwright and wit Oscar Wilde was tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years of hard labor in England for what offense?
ALibel against a British noblemanBFraud and financial deceptionCTreason against the CrownDGross indecency - 13.
The trial of Charles Manson and his followers for the shocking 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and others was held during which years?
A1970–71B1968–69C1972–73D1974–75 - 14.
During the Watergate scandal, President Nixon ordered the firing of the special prosecutor investigating him — an event the press called the 'Saturday Night Massacre.' Who was that special prosecutor?
ALeon JaworskiBArchibald CoxCSam ErvinDJohn Dean - 15.
The Egyptian cleric known as the 'Blind Sheikh,' convicted in 1995 in a New York federal court of seditious conspiracy for directing a plot to bomb American landmarks, was named what?
AKhalid Sheikh MohammedBRamzi YousefCOmar Abdel RahmanDAbu Musab al-Zarqawi
Answer Key
The Scopes Trial was held in July 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, drawing enormous national attention to the growing debate between evolution and creationism in American public schools.
Clarence Darrow, one of America's most celebrated trial lawyers, took the case without pay and famously cross-examined prosecution spokesman William Jennings Bryan on the literal truth of the Bible.
William Jennings Bryan, famous for his 'Cross of Gold' speech and three presidential runs, argued for the prosecution in the Scopes Trial and died just five days after the trial ended.
The Salem Witch Trials erupted in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts, resulting in the execution of 20 people before the hysteria finally subsided — a sobering reminder of the dangers of mob fear and injustice.
The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) and the surrounding region of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the court sessions held in Salem Town.
The main Nuremberg verdicts were delivered in October 1946, and 10 convicted Nazi leaders were hanged on October 16, 1946; the highest-ranking defendant, Hermann Göring, cheated the hangman by swallowing a poison capsule the night before.
Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of kidnapping 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. and demanding a $50,000 ransom; the baby was found dead in May 1932, and the trial was called 'the Crime of the Century.'
The Rosenbergs were convicted in 1951 of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing classified atomic bomb information to the Soviet Union, and were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 19, 1953.
On October 3, 1995, after a nine-month trial widely called 'the Trial of the Century,' the jury took less than four hours to return a not-guilty verdict for O.J. Simpson.
Johnnie Cochran led O.J. Simpson's celebrated 'Dream Team' defense and coined that unforgettable phrase about the bloody glove that appeared too small to fit Simpson's hand when he tried it on in court.
Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927, in Massachusetts; their case drew international outrage from those who believed the two anarchists had been convicted as much for their political beliefs as for any hard evidence against them.
Oscar Wilde was convicted of gross indecency for his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas; the harsh imprisonment broke his health, and he died in Paris in 1900, just three years after his release.
The Manson Family murder trial began in June 1970 and ended in January 1971 with Manson and three followers convicted of first-degree murder; their death sentences were later commuted to life in prison when California briefly abolished the death penalty in 1972.
On October 20, 1973, Archibald Cox was fired by President Nixon after Cox subpoenaed White House tape recordings; both the Attorney General and his deputy resigned rather than carry out the order, leaving the Solicitor General to do it.
Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was convicted in October 1995 and sentenced to life in prison; his followers included those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and he remained imprisoned until his death in 2017.