7. Just like the Emerald City, the Wonderful Wizard is a fraudulent illusion symbolizing the American presidency
The character of the Wizard of Oz, real name Oscar Zoroaster and the initials of whom the name of Oz is derived in-universe, is the highly regarded ruler of the Land of Oz. Initially believed to be a powerful sorcerer, appearing in a variety of wondrous forms before the traveling companions, it is later revealed that the Wizard is, in fact, a conman from Nebraska; having arrived by accident one day in a hot air balloon, the leaderless people of Oz immediately worshiped him as a great wizard and appointed him Supreme Ruler. After discovering his magic to be nothing more than trickery to sustain the original myth, the Wizard abdicates his throne in favor of the clever Scarecrow.
Described by literary critic Henry Littlefield as “a little bumbling old man, hiding behind a facade of papier mache and noise”, the Wizard is widely assumed to be a derogative amalgam of all of Baum’s disliked U.S. Presidents between the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century, in particular, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley. A cowardly and Machiavellian politician by nature the Wizard tricks the people of Oz, including the Good Witches, into believing he is a righteous and wise man rather than the selfish charlatan he actually is. Further reflecting his political attitude the Wizard responds to Dorothy’s request for help by stating “I never grant favors without some return”, sending her into mortal danger against the Wicked Witch of the West at his expense.
However rather than simply representing an individual politician, like the Cowardly Lion and William Jennings Bryan, the Wizard symbolizes the office of the president itself. A recurring political critique of the American presidency is its lack of effectual power, comprised of mostly soft powers and often described as merely the “power to persuade”; this innate powerlessness is noticeably reproduced in the eponymous Wizard of Oz. Just like the city, he rules the Wizard’s power is fraudulent, admitting to Dorothy that he is “a very bad Wizard” and forcing him instead to rely upon a little girl to rid himself of the more powerful Wicked Witch of the West; with the Western Witch herself representative of commercial and industrial interests in American politics, Baum subtly suggests the power of President of the United States is illusory and in fact inferior in strength to these moneyed interests.