Alcohol was prohibited in the United States throughout the 1920s, beginning on January 17, 1920. The 1925 Scopes Trial in the United States was about the teaching of evolutionism versus creationism in schools, with William Jennings Bryan arguing on behalf of creationism, and Clarence Darrow representing John Thomas Scopes in defense of evolutionism. The Wall Street Crash in October of 1929 began the Great Depression in the United States.