Basic Information
Name: Lyman Frank Baum
Nickname: The Man Behind the Curtain, The Munchkin King, and a Friend of the Ladies (he was a big supporter of women's rights)
He also went by several aliases as a writer and actor: George Brooks, Louis F. Baum, Laura Bancroft, Suzanne Metcalf, Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, Schuyler Staunton, Edith Van Dyne, Floyd Akers, John Estes Cooke.
Born: May 15, 1856
Died: May 6, 1919 in Ozcot, Los Angeles. No joke. Read about Ozcot for yourself.
Nationality: The Land of Oz—er—the United States.
Hometown: Chittenango, New York. Wouldn't it be so much cooler if it was somewhere in Kansas, where there's "no place like home"?
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: Journalist, businessman, fireworks salesman, and actor. But who cares about those? He will always be remembered as an author and the writer of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
By the way, he really ran away with the whole Oz idea, writing well over a dozen sequels to the original book. Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?
Education: Peekskill Military Academy, but never received his high school degree.
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: Cynthia Ann Stanton and Benjamin Ward Baum
Siblings: Edwin Clay Baum, Benjamin Ward Baum, Jr., Mary Louise Brewster, Synthia Jane Baum, Harriet Alvena Neal, Oliver Stanton Baum, Henry Clay Baum, and George McCellean Baum. Whew, that's a lot of kids.
Spouse: Maud Gage
Children: Frank Josly Baum, Robert Stanton Baum, Harry NealBaum, Kenneth Gage Baum. And his brain-child: Dorothy Gale.
Friends: William McKinley, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, the Feminist Movement, Susan B. Anthony.
Foes: Winged Monkeys, the Wicked Witch of the East, Native Americans (he very nastily argued for the destruction of all Native Americans living in the United States), the Entire Nation of the Philippines…and last but not least, William Jennings Bryan.
Analysis
Scardey-Lion
L. Frank Baum really didn't like William Jennings Bryan. No, scratch that. L. Frank Baum really, really, really didn't like William Jennings Bryan.
He really, really, really didn't like him so much that it has been argued that he created the character "The Cowardly Lion" in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz just to mock him. Check out this piece from the book:
"You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty."
"Perhaps I have, but I'm scared just the same," said the Lion. "I shall be very unhappy unless you give me the sort of courage that makes one forget he is afraid." —L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (189-190).
Looking at this quote by itself, it may seem a little harmless. But when you take historical context into consideration, especially Bryan's "Imperialism" speech, you can actually see a celebrity fight of epic proportions developing. Maybe not as epic as between Taylor Swift and Kanye West…but still epic nonetheless.
Baum is going for Bryan's manhood here. Literally.
He basically wanted to call Bryan out for being a cry-baby little girl who wasn't manly enough to take on imperialism in Cuba and the Philippines. He even hinted that Bryan had the courage inside of him to believe in America's imperial forces, but that he's "scared just the same" to support the imperialist route.
Best Enemies Forever
When anti-imperialists like Bryan kept calling for the U.S. to become "as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," (112), jingo-imperialists like Baum viewed that as hippy, peace-loving nonsense.
Or even worse: an act of cowardice.
Even outside of the fantasyland of Oz, L. Frank Baum couldn't stand Bryan. He hated his view on Populism. He hated his view on Free Silver. He probably also hated the way that he chewed his food. That's a lot of hate.
He despised the man enough to support William McKinley presidential run against Bryan in 1898, using his literary skills to rip on Bryan's campaign every chance he could.
But L. Frank Baum's veiled messages of Bryan-hating symbolism actually didn't end with the Cowardly Lion. Even Oz's yellow brick road has been seen as a reference to the Free Silver Debate and Baum's own feelings about Bryan's "Cross of Gold" Speech. With so many coded allegories and symbolic interpretations, who'd have thought that a young-at-heart classic like the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was filled with so much hidden messages of hate and political infighting?
If your childhood has now been officially ruined, don't blame us. Blame the election of 1896.