William Jennings Bryan died in Dayton, Tennessee, on July 26, 1925, aged 65, only days after the conclusion of the Scopes trial. He had remained in Tennessee after the proceedings and continued to give speeches. On the day of his death he attended church, ate and lay down to rest; he was found to have died in his sleep. Historical accounts use the term apoplexy, often interpreted as a stroke, but the exact immediate medical mechanism should not be treated as conclusively established by that broad label. His final days were unusually public because of the trial's national attention, yet the intensity of the controversy does not prove that humiliation, overwork or emotional distress caused his death. He had also lived with diabetes, a separate part of his medical history that should not automatically replace the reported immediate cause. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The supported sequence is continued activity after the trial followed by a sudden death during rest, rather than a fully documented long terminal illness. A responsible account keeps the dramatic political setting distinct from medical certainty and avoids treating popular explanations of his state of mind as established evidence.