It was 1924 and it was dubbed “The Trial of the Century.” Nineteen-year-olds Nathan Leopold and Richard Loab were charged with the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks. Leopold and Loab were, by all accounts, exceptional kids. Leopold was a child prodigy. He was said to speak his first words at 4 months old. He reportedly had an IQ of 210. By 19, Leopold had already graduated college Phi Beta Kappa and was enrolled in law school at the University of Chicago. He studied 15 languages and spoke four fluently. His accomplice, Richard Loab, was the youngest graduate in the history of the University of Michigan. He was in the process of enrolling at Harvard Law School.
Both Leopold and Loab were from the south side of Chicago. Though they began with small crimes, such as petty theft, it wasn’t long before they began to consider more serious and violent crimes. These culminated in the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks.
While many are vaguely familiar with this case (Alford Hitchcock’s 1948 movie “Rope” was based on the murder), few know why Leopold and Loab actually committed the crime. What would cause two super brilliant teenagers to kidnap and murder?
The bizarre answer is found not in the world of crime, but in philosophy. Both Leopold and Loab were educated in schools that taught Nietzschean philosophy as truth. Having been baptized into this philosophy they soon believed themselves to be “supermen” who were above the law. Leopold describes his belief in a letter: “A superman ... is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not liable for anything he may do.”
Leopold and Loab were defended by the famous lawyer, Clarence Darrow. Darrow stated: “This terrible crime was inherent in his organism, and it came from some ancestor… Is any blame attached because somebody took Nietzsche’s philosophy seriously and fashioned his life upon it? … It is hardly fair to hang a 19-year-old boy for the philosophy that was taught him at the university.”
Darrow’s words ought to pierce the Western world like a knife. We teach philosophies and worldviews as if they are of no consequence. Why do we Christians “contend for the faith”? Because ideas have consequences.
By the way, both Leopold and Loab received life in prison.
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