Populism and the Earth of Oz

Update : Cheers to yous, our Kickstarter campaign to "Keep Them Ruby" was a success and we have the support we demand to conserve and brandish Dorothy'southward Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Stay tuned for updates on the project. Only our journeying on the xanthous brick road isn't over yet.Assist usa conserve Scarecrow's costumefrom the 1939 movie and then that information technology can join the Cerise Slippers on brandish and assistance support a new exhibition devoted to the arts, music, sports, and amusement. Your support will help to make this projection a reality.

Curator Peter Liebhold takes a trip to the children's section of the library for inspiration in understanding the economic factors that promote populism.

Scan of cover of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900 features a cartoon lion wearing glasses.

In 1964 Henry Littlefield, a Columbia Academy-trained historian, wrote a quantum commodity in the scholarly American Quarterly titled "The Magician of Oz: Parable on Populism." In the article, Littlefield made the bold claim that Frank Baum's 1900 volume "conceals an unsuspected depth." The Wonderful  Wizard of Oz was, Littlefield thought, "a Midwesterner's vibrant and ironic portrait of this land every bit it entered the twentieth century." Specifically, Littlefield argued that the story of The Wizard of Oz was an elaborate metaphor for the Populist movement (a rising political force in the 1890s) and a critique of the complicated national debates over monetary policy. What made Littlefield'southward claim bold was its departure from common wisdom. Up until this bespeak The Sorcerer of Oz was well known in the United States, but simply as a popular children'southward fairy tale (written in 1900), a successful musical phase production (opened in 1902), and an iconic motion picture show (debuted in 1939).

Since most of u.s. don't walk around thinking about the social movements and political debates of the late 1800s, a quick refresher on populism is in society. Similar to parties on our political landscape today, the Populist movement was a rising third-political party campaign of aroused disenfranchised "plain people" (farmers and, to a smaller degree, mill workers) seeking to wrest ability from bankers and business leaders. United under the imprint of the People's (Populist) Political party, these men and women sought primal economic alter in guild to break the power of concentrated capital. Populists advocated for bimetallism (the coining of both gold and silver), nationalizing the railroads, a graduated income tax, and a decrease in immigration. They believed that adopting silver (in add-on to the golden standard) would pump coin into the economy, resulting in limited aggrandizement—a adept alter for people paying mortgages, a bad i for the banks holding loans.

In his close reading of The Wizard of Oz, Littlefield argued that most of the characters and settings in Baum'south fictional earth represented real people, places, and ideas from the Populist movement of the 1890s. He expected that most developed readers of the time would have understood Baum's allusions. A few of the highlights from the article were:

i.) The Silver (Ruby) Slippers

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers clicking

When Dorothy's house lands, killing the Wicked Witch of the E, Dorothy is given a pair of magic slippers. In the book and the play the shoes are silver, not reddish as they were famously depicted in the 1939 film. In his reading of The Sorcerer of Oz, Littlefield believed that Dorothy was a stand-in for the boilerplate American, and that the magic silver shoes represented the late 1890s gratis argent motion. During the severe depression of 1893-1896, many Populists believed that the federal regime should adopt an inflationary monetary policy, freely minting silver money, in lodge to re-energize the national economy. In contrast, Littlefield thought Oz'south yellowish brick route represented the existing gold standard, which fixes U.S. newspaper currency to a specific toll for gold bullion. In his reading, the Emerald City, the terminus of the yellow brick road, is Washington, D.C.

2.) The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman

Scan of inside cover of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900, features drawings of the tin woodsman and scarecrow holding hands.

On her journeying to visit the Sorcerer, Dorothy meets the scarecrow and the tin woodman. According to Littlefield, the scarecrow, displaying "a terrible sense of inferiority and cocky doubt," represents the American farmer (who made up the bulk of the Populist Political party). Littlefield cites an 1896 article which accuses Kansas farmers of "ignorance, irrationality and general muddle-headedness."  By extension, the tin can woodman represents the -to-be other faction in the People'southward Political party—the factory worker. Dehumanized, the simple laborer has been turned into a automobile.

McKinley campaign poster, 1900

William McKinley ran for president on a protectionist plank. Pledging support for American workers, he sought high tariffs to brand foreign manufactured goods unattractive and he supported the gold standard. His opponent, William Jennings Bryan (who Littlefield suggested was represented by the cowardly panthera leo in The Magician of Oz) was famous for his "Cross of Gold" spoken communication. He favored the monetary policy of complimentary silver.

While the literary deconstruction of The Sorcerer of Oz past Littlefield and subsequent scholars might seem overly strained, their work has been of import in creating widespread interest in the history of the 1890s Populist movement, as well as in populism more broadly. Littlefied was inspired to write the article considering of his experiences as a high school instructor, and his analysis of The Sorcerer of Oz has all the markings of a pedagogical technique: he created a fantastic quest that required participants to empathize the history of the Populist motion in social club to find the clues in Baum's volume. (In order to find Waldo, you need to know what he looks like.)

While further analysis of The Wizard of Oz is probably unnecessary, understanding the factors that promoted the Populist motility in the get-go identify present an opportunity for insight into current events. In retrospect, the concerns that galvanized Populists to action in the 1890s were not as clear cut as they seem at first glance. Equally economical historian Anne Mayhew points out, "farmers began to mutter about railroad rates, interest rates, and problems of obtaining credit in a flow when freight rates and involvement rates were falling rapidly and when . . . credit was easily available." Perhaps American farmers were looking for something to blame as their lives were going through chaotic change. Their protests may be best explained past American agronomics'due south general movement into commercial production, international markets, and the cash economy. Mayhew observes that in the modern globe farmers "constitute the railroad agent, the banking concern officer, the equipment salesman, and the grain elevator operator tyrannical because they did not respond, every bit the country store owner had before, to tales of a bad year, family unit affliction, or other such problems."

Today, many political and economic pundits talk about the ascent of the "new" populists. The protest no longer comes from farmers, still. Now, from Tea Party conservatives to Occupy Wall Street supporters, there is new anger directed toward bankers and business leaders. Remembering the days of low-skilled just highly paid factory piece of work, many disenfranchised Americans struggle and expect for someone to blame in a globe that has changed and left them significantly out of the movie.

Graphic with text "Help conserve Scarecrow's costume" and small image of Ruby Slippers and Scarecrow's black pointed hat

Peter Liebhold is a co-curator of the American Enterprise exhibition and a curator in the Work and Industry Division at the National Museum of American History.