4. The Cowardly Lion actually represents Democratic presidential candidate and populist politician William Jennings Bryan
The Cowardly Lion is the third and last of the secondary characters who accompany Dorothy on her journey in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. An African lion, albeit anthropomorphized and able to speak to humans, the Cowardly Lion believes his fear makes him adequate as a lion for he should instead be the brave king. Despite this self-doubt and external displays of fear, the Cowardly Lion repeatedly performs brave deeds throughout the novel to save his friends and is invited by the other animals to be their king after defeating the Giant Spider.
Not only a rhyming pair – Bryan and Lion – there are significant parallels between the two which render a frequent assumption that the Cowardly Lion is heavily based on the populist politician William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic Presidential Candidate in 1896 and 1900. First, the fact that Bryan himself was depicted as a lion by the political press of his day due to his tendency to elicit a roar to assembled crowds. Secondly, Bryan proved unable to win either the 1896 or 1900 elections, won instead by William McKinley, due in large part to the monolithic opposing votes of eastern industrial workers; this defeat is reflected in the novel, wherein the Cowardly Lions claws “could make no impression” upon the Tin Man.