Jay Gould...Rehabilitated?

[JoeG]

There is a new book out that attempts to rehabilitate Jay Gould. It certainly makes him seem more human. Whether it is convincing I leave to the reader.
The book is by Edward J. Renehan, Jr., and is titled
Dark Genius of Wall Street
The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons

[Greg]

Joe,


Maury Allen's 'Union Pacific' potrays Gould as a man who, unbeknownst to his colleagues, endeavoured to prevent the UP from entering its first bankruptcy while suffering from a terminal illness. While he was unsuccessful in this regard at no time did he attempt to sell it off piecemeal in a manner beffiting the 'Robber Baron' appelation. Perhaps this new book expounds on this matter and unearths new facts to supplement Allen's work.

[Matt Langworthy]

Gould also had honorable intentions as a benefactor of the Erie RR. The book Erie Lackawanna: Death Of An American Railroad 1938-1992 supports this point. Gould attempted gain a suitable western outlet for the Erie. He was unfortunately outbid by PRR for what became their Fort Wayne line, and by NYC for the Lake Shore RR. He worked hard, but Gould could not overcome the damage done by predecessors like Cornelius Vanderbilt, and this left Erie's finances weak for the rest of its existence.

[JoeG]

Maury Klein wrote a book a few years ago, titled "The Life and Legend of Jay Gould." That book tried to rehabilitate him. The Renehan book goes much further. For example, itt effectively refutes the notion that Gould was responsible for his first parner's suicide, and it presents Gould in a human light.
That being said, Gould was not exactly a good citizen. He did loot the Erie, and his low point, ethically speaking, was the 1869 attempt to bribe officials of the Grant administration and create a gold corner. Renehan's book minimizes his misdeeds in that enterprise. Aside from the corner itself, Gould used his Tammany connections to crooked judges to weasel out of paying legitimate debts he incurred in the corner attempt, and to judicially mistreat his opponents. In effect, Renehan and Maury Klein argue that he was no worse than the other robber barons, but I would say that the gold corner and its aftermath was something especially bad and corrupt. I think that that is why he and his family were ostracized by "High Society."