The Yellow Brick Road
As the century turned from the 19th to the 20th, William Jennings Bryan was one of the nation's most influential men. He ran for president in 1896 on a crusade to expand the nation's money supply by making silver, as well as gold, part of the monetary standard. "Free silver" was of great interest because of the depression that had gripped the country since 1893. He lost the election, and the issue faded when economic conditions improved, and the US government formally adopted a gold only standard in 1900. Bryan's crusade was over, although he ran for president twice more.
That year Frank L. Baum published his children's story, the Wizard of Oz. Scholars now believe it also tells the story of the silver movement, with Bryan as the Cowardly Lion.
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