~~Expert
Facts[]
- Fact 1: Republican William McKinley won the 1896 presidential election over William J. Bryan.
- Fact 2: McKinley led a "front porch campaign" at his home in Ohio and supporters travelled to hear him.
- Fact 3: Republicans mocked Bryan as indecisive, or a coward, a point which L. Frank Baum satirized viciously in the Bryan-like Cowardly Lion in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in the spring of 1900.
- Fact 4: Bryan was a strong advocate of popular democracy and an enemy of the banks and their gold standard. He demanded "Free Silver" because it reduced power attributes to money and put more money in the hands of the people.
- Fact 5: The Republicans nominated William McKinley on a platform calling for prosperity for everyone through industrial growth, high tarrifs, and "sound money" (gold).