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The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869

kenneth d. ackerman

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In The Gold Ring, Capitol Hill veteran Kenneth D. Ackerman tells the story of two dazzling con men who rose to the top of the Erie Railway Company before fixing their ambitions on a scam so great it would make them two of the richest men in America—and cement their reputation as two of the most corrupt. They were Jay Gould, the ruthless self-promoter who came to be recognized as the most hated, if brilliant, man of his generation, and his partner, the extravagant showman Jim Fisk, whose insatiable indulgences finally led to his demise. Featuring a cast of supporting characters that includes Boss Tweed, Albert Cardozo, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Ulysses S. Grant, The Gold Ring evokes an age of scandal and depravity in the world of high finance that makes today's climate of corporate excess and deception seem positively tame by comparison. Featuring numerous historic photographs, this is a compelling and fiercely entertaining insight into Wall Street's early years.

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1988

This edition

Format
352 pages, Paperback
Published
January 10, 2005 by Da Capo Press
ISBN
9780786714421
ASIN
0786714425
Language
English

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kenneth d. ackerman

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Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 13 votes)
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13 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
PissOnYourGrave
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Financial crises are not a new development in the American economy. We have been in a boom-bust cycle for a very long time now. The bank collapse of 2008 is not the end of the world.
That being said, this is a book worth reading. The complexities of high finance are described tolerably well by Ackerman, and the personal history of the key players is quite interesting.
One criticism, and I don't know if this is just the edition I have, the copy editing is terrible. There are several obvious misspellings and missing letters. As a Lit major, this annoys me.
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Kushikime
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A good book that tells the story of Jim Fisk and Jay Gould’s attempt to corner the Gold market in 1869. He sets the table by having a brief overview of how Fisk and Gould came to control the Erie Railroad in their battle with Cornelius Vanderbilt and how they came to be connected to Boss Tweed. The rest of the book details how Gould meticulously planned to corner the Gold market thru the influence of politicians and the media and the aftermath of the corner. Good read
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no1yonemain
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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didn't hold my interest as much as his other the books did, hard for me to get my brain around the nuts and bolts.
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Alexis9
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A mind-boggling story that I wish was written by someone else.

Kenneth Ackerman actually has written some solid popular histories of the Gilded Age, like his biographies of Boss Tweed and President James Garfield. As a former lawyer for the FTC, he also has the legal and financial mind to unravel this most complicated of financial "corners." Unfortunately, in this his first book, he allowed sloppy writing to get in the way (not to mention even sloppier editing, I could count four or more terrible spelling errors on a single page).

But the story does deserve to be told. After "Diamond" Jim Fisk and Jay Gould secured their control of the Erie Railroad from Cornelius Vanderbilt in one of the wildest stock manipulations in the country's history, they turned their eyes on a bigger target. Gould proposed that they use their new wealth try to buy up most of New York City's gold, therefore "cornering" the national gold market, just as the nation was trying to move from the paper greenback currency to a gold standard. Gould and Fisk got President Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, to bend the President's ear and convince him that an increase in the gold price would raise the value of American exports and therefore help American farmers. They also provided a $500,000 gold bribe to the New York Sub-Treasury's Daniel Butterfield, who held most of the federal government's gold reserves, so that the federal government would not flood the market just as they were pushing the price up. In one terrific week in September 1869 they pushed the price of gold from $130 to $160, but the gold "bears," such as Brown Brothers member Henry Brown, fought back. Finally, Grant got word that his brother-in-law Corbin and others were speculating with his good name and ordered the Treasury to release $4 million in gold, breaking the gold corner for good on "Black Friday." This would have been the end of Gould and Fisk if they had not secured help from Boss Tweed's New York City judges to rain injunctions down on the Gold Exchange Bank and the Gold Room, allowing them to back out of old contracts and retain a hefty slice of their winnings.

Gould and Fisk's effort was a near perfect maneuver of Gilded Age financial manipulation, Tammany political corruption, and Washington spoils, that almost ruined the country but added to the pile of two men's fortunes. It's an amazing story, that deserves a better chronicle.
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MayTheFool
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14359460
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xecivet
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A very interesting read that shows that those hateful regulations that people like to complain about, generally have a reason for coming into existence. There are no heros in this story, and a miniscule number of innocent bystanders. Jay Gould and Jim Fisk were partners in a variety of money making operations that they excelled in creating. Gould wants to corner the gold market in New York, but he must make sure that Washington (the Treasury) will not sold government gold to support the market. Ackerman does yeoman work in plugging away at the evidence and the clues as it moves forward, It as compelling as a Ludlum thriller. Spoiler Alert: After the attempt fails and the country’s economy has been knocked into a cocked hat, only a few of the greedier types have a comeuppance and that is mainly monetary loss. No one goes to jail because of it. A real slice of life in buccaneer capitalism. The only downside is the terrible proofreading job in the printing. It is noticeable and distracting.
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Bakadesu
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Fantastic, detailed account of the events leading up to and following Black Friday
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