Henry K. Thaw as the Trump of the Early 1900s

I focused a lot on Henry K. Thaw in my last blog post, talking about how Doctorow uses the contrast between him and Houdini to create a social commentary on the state of class in the United States. However, the more I think about Thaw and his situation, the more frustrated I get. To me, it shows continuation of the class privilege in America. We briefly touched on this in some of our class discussions, but his immense power and privilege that he gets from his money and class status separates him from the rest of society, even when in jail. In Ragtime, Doctorow uses Thaw as a contrast between the working class immigrant communities in New York at the turn of the century, during the first big surge of capitalism in America and the class inequity that comes with it. Yet, what I keep coming back to is the fact that in real life in the early 1900s, Thaw shot and killed Stanford White in public and in front of witnesses, and still got away with it.

I know that Doctorow had a whole plan to use this storyline to criticize the privilege that a capitalist society grants those at the very top that pertained to both the time periods of the early 1900s as well as the early 1970s when the book was written and published. However, the only connection my brain was able to make was flashing back to 2016 and Trump’s comment that he “could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters”. Not only is that sentiment in and of itself terrifying, but it’s also ridiculous because in the back of your mind you think that he may not be wrong. Ragtime is almost fifty years old and there’s no way that Doctorow could have predicted a future president of the United States saying anything to that effect, yet his points about Thaw are even more pertinent now than ever.

I would imagine that if someone were to write a modernized version of Ragtime, Trump would make a perfect example of the point that Doctorow is making with Thaw. He “made his own money” (see: inherited millions and was able to further succeed from there) and then was able to turn that privilege around to make him practically immune to the justice system (if the past few weeks don’t highlight this enough for you, maybe remember the Hollywood Access tapes or the fact that he still hasn’t released his tax returns). He then further turns around and uses this power to further benefit himself and others like him, using his wealth to help him win a position of greater power (the presidency) and enact laws and tax policies that go to those as wealthy as he is.

The things that allowed Thaw to get off so easily as well as live in such luxury while in jail were his connections and money, mostly intertwined. He had people able to bring him the things he wanted while in jail, was able to pay off the guards, was able to use his money to convince Evelyn Nesbit to testify for him, as well as hire one of the best attorneys he could, I’m sure. His influence and money were what kept Evelyn under his control and doing his will, even when she was unsure. In the same way, Trump uses his connections and influence to hire lawyers to do his dirty work as well as hide his dirty secrets. In class, we mentioned that through this trial, Evelyn inadvertently became one of the first “reality” stars in the tabloids, famous for being famous. Trump also came into the spotlight in a similar fashion, first with real estate, and later more so with his reality show.

At the end of the day, Trump and Thaw are both rich men who are effectively above the law because of the power their wealth carries within the capitalist society that was and still is the United States, even a century later.