felt existed within the young man. She remarked that his “profile does not seem consistent with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), but more consistent with irritability, intolerance for incompetence of others, and social disconnects.”
In just one meeting, Ayres determined that Bart was egomaniacal, extremely narcissistic, and removed emotionally from everyone around him, including his girlfriend, brother, and parents. She felt he believed he was better than everyone else around him, including her. She described their encounter as a “very disturbing interview, especially social disconnections.”
In 1924, two young men, Nathan Leopold Jr., nineteen, and Richard Loeb, eighteen, who subscribed to the Nietzschean “superman” philosophy distorted its meaning to fit their own wicked scheme. Leopold and Loeb, who met as teenagers at the University of Chicago, came from Chicago aristocracy, such as it was, and were basically bored out of their skulls. Each young man believed he was far superior to his peers. They were constantly seeking new thrills to plumb themselves out of the boredom that their families, their neighborhood, and their friends afforded them. These seemingly well-bred, well-mannered pinnacles of upstanding youth were anything but.
From all outward appearances, Leopold and Loeb were the type of young men that mothers wanted their daughters to marry, and fathers wanted their sons to grow up to emulate. Unbeknownst to everyone around them, the two young men’s ennui led to a life of lies, deceit, and petty crime. The young men would occasionally lift belongings from their fellow college mates out of the others’ fraternity houses. Having been bestowed with great financial wealth due to their families, neither young man was wanting for material possessions. Indeed, the majority of the goods they pilfered were almost always well below a value they were customarily used to. Leopold and Loeb stole from others because they wanted to experience a thrill they never had, and hoped it would spark a fire within them.
As with any junkie, however, the initial rush would soon wear off for the college students, and they needed an even greater fix. Not soon after they began their minor thievery spree, Leopold and Loeb decided they wanted to experience what they believed would be the ultimate thrill: the taking of a human life.
Leopold, definitely the more dominant of the two young men, convinced Loeb that the act of murder of an innocent human being would fall perfectly in line with what Nietzsche allegedly preached. According to Leopold, total dominance over another person could only come from the complete desecration and annihilation of that individual. Until you actually snuff the last breath out from another soul, you were never in complete control of that person, no matter how much power you may have seemingly exerted over them. In a correspondence with Loeb, Leopold wrote, 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 Loeb took their twisted misinterpretation of Nietzsche’s “superman” philosophy to the ultimate, horrifying conclusion when they picked out a so-called “inferior” human being to slaughter, fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks.
The stalking, abduction, and subsequent murder of Franks was all too easy for the misanthropes, and only served to reinforce their beliefs that they were above and beyond their fellow humans.
Eventually, however, Leopold and Loeb were discovered, arrested, and paraded in front of the national media for what was then considered to be the first “Trial of the Century.” Though the phrase has now been overused, as this occurred before the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping trials and the O.J. Simpson/Nicole Brown Simpson murder trial, it was an apt description.
Indeed, Leopold and Loeb retained one of the highest-profile
In just one meeting, Ayres determined that Bart was egomaniacal, extremely narcissistic, and removed emotionally from everyone around him, including his girlfriend, brother, and parents. She felt he believed he was better than everyone else around him, including her. She described their encounter as a “very disturbing interview, especially social disconnections.”
In 1924, two young men, Nathan Leopold Jr., nineteen, and Richard Loeb, eighteen, who subscribed to the Nietzschean “superman” philosophy distorted its meaning to fit their own wicked scheme. Leopold and Loeb, who met as teenagers at the University of Chicago, came from Chicago aristocracy, such as it was, and were basically bored out of their skulls. Each young man believed he was far superior to his peers. They were constantly seeking new thrills to plumb themselves out of the boredom that their families, their neighborhood, and their friends afforded them. These seemingly well-bred, well-mannered pinnacles of upstanding youth were anything but.
From all outward appearances, Leopold and Loeb were the type of young men that mothers wanted their daughters to marry, and fathers wanted their sons to grow up to emulate. Unbeknownst to everyone around them, the two young men’s ennui led to a life of lies, deceit, and petty crime. The young men would occasionally lift belongings from their fellow college mates out of the others’ fraternity houses. Having been bestowed with great financial wealth due to their families, neither young man was wanting for material possessions. Indeed, the majority of the goods they pilfered were almost always well below a value they were customarily used to. Leopold and Loeb stole from others because they wanted to experience a thrill they never had, and hoped it would spark a fire within them.
As with any junkie, however, the initial rush would soon wear off for the college students, and they needed an even greater fix. Not soon after they began their minor thievery spree, Leopold and Loeb decided they wanted to experience what they believed would be the ultimate thrill: the taking of a human life.
Leopold, definitely the more dominant of the two young men, convinced Loeb that the act of murder of an innocent human being would fall perfectly in line with what Nietzsche allegedly preached. According to Leopold, total dominance over another person could only come from the complete desecration and annihilation of that individual. Until you actually snuff the last breath out from another soul, you were never in complete control of that person, no matter how much power you may have seemingly exerted over them. In a correspondence with Loeb, Leopold wrote, 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 Loeb took their twisted misinterpretation of Nietzsche’s “superman” philosophy to the ultimate, horrifying conclusion when they picked out a so-called “inferior” human being to slaughter, fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks.
The stalking, abduction, and subsequent murder of Franks was all too easy for the misanthropes, and only served to reinforce their beliefs that they were above and beyond their fellow humans.
Eventually, however, Leopold and Loeb were discovered, arrested, and paraded in front of the national media for what was then considered to be the first “Trial of the Century.” Though the phrase has now been overused, as this occurred before the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping trials and the O.J. Simpson/Nicole Brown Simpson murder trial, it was an apt description.
Indeed, Leopold and Loeb retained one of the highest-profile
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