Tom Stewart (politician)
Stewart designed the prosecution's argument to preserve political control over the schools exclusively within the state legislature, thereby keeping the trial to the narrow, legal matters and forestalling attempts by the defense to introduce scientific testimony or to show there was not a conflict between evolution and the story of divine creation set forth in Genesis.Except for the willingness of William Jennings Bryan (hired by a Christian fundamentalist group to assist with the prosecution) to be cross-examined by Clarence Darrow, Stewart's positions controlled the trial and the Scopes defense had no recourse but to ask the jury to convict the defendant so the case could be appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court (which overturned the conviction on a legal technicality but upheld the constitutionality of the Butler Act).In 1938 Stewart entered the race for the balance of the unexpired term of the late Senator Nathan L. Bachman, who had died in office.In the August Democratic primary he defeated labor union leader George L. Berry, who had been appointed to the seat upon Bachman's death by Governor Gordon Browning, and was elected Senator on November 8.Eligible to begin serving immediately, he instead waited until the expiry of his term as district attorney on January 16, 1939 to take his Senate seat.