The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford History of the United States)

by Richard White

When Gould cultivated Grant, he was attempting to avoid a quite specific risk. In 1869 Gould and “Diamond Jim” Fisk launched a complicated gold corner. They were an odd pair. Gould was shy, retiring, and most comfortable among his orchids and family, while Fisk was in every way his opposite. Fisk would be shot dead in a New York hotel lobby in 1872, the casualty of a too-successful seduction. Because the United States retained greenbacks and Europe had gone to the gold standard, exchanging greenbacks for gold was essential to American foreign commerce. The exchange took place in the Gold Room in New York City, where merchants bought the gold they needed for transactions with countries on the gold standard. If Gould and Fisk cornered the supply of gold, they could hold merchants for ransom. Those involved in the import-export trade would have to choose between paying Gould an immense premium and bankruptcy. In the process, Gould threatened to derange American trade.