John Hay

For other people named John Hay, see John Hay (disam-
biguation).
John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838 July 1, 1905) was
an American statesman and ocial whose career in gov-
ernment stretched almost half a century. Beginning as a
private secretary and assistant to AbrahamLincoln, Hays
highest oce was United States Secretary of State under
Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Hay was also an author and biographer, and wrote poetry
and other literature throughout much of his life.
Born in Indiana to an anti-slavery family that moved to
Illinois when he was young, Hay showed great poten-
tial, and his family sent him to Brown University. Af-
ter graduation in 1858, Hay read law in his uncles of-
ce in Springeld, Illinois, adjacent to that of Lincoln.
Hay worked for Lincolns successful presidential cam-
paign, and became one of his private secretaries at the
White House. Throughout the American Civil War, Hay
was close to Lincoln, and stood by his deathbed after the
President was shot at Fords Theatre. In addition to his
other literary works, Hay co-authored with John George
Nicolay a multi-volume biography of Lincoln that helped
shape the assassinated presidents historical image.
After Lincolns death, Hay spent several years at diplo-
matic posts in Europe, then worked for the New-York Tri-
bune under Horace Greeley and WhitelawReid. Yet, Hay
remained active in politics, and from1879 to 1881 served
as Assistant Secretary of State. Afterwards, he remained
in the private sector, until President McKinley, for whom
he had been a major backer, made him Ambassador to
the United Kingdom in 1897. Hay became Secretary of
State the following year.
Hay served for almost seven years as Secretary of State
under President McKinley, and after his assassination,
under Theodore Roosevelt. Hay was responsible for ne-
gotiating the Open Door Policy, which kept China open
to trade with all countries on an equal basis, with in-
ternational powers. By negotiating the HayPauncefote
Treaty with the United Kingdom, the (ultimately unrati-
ed) HayHerrn Treaty with Colombia, and nally the
HayBunau-Varilla Treaty with the newly-independent
Republic of Panama, Hay also cleared the way for the
building of the Panama Canal.
1 Early life
1.1 Family and youth
The Hay-Morrison House, birthplace of John Hay, Salem, Indi-
ana
John Milton Hay was born in Salem, Indiana, on Oc-
tober 8, 1838.
[1]
He was the third son of Dr. Charles
Hay and the former Helen Leonard. Charles Hay, born
in Lexington, Kentucky, hated slavery, and moved to
the North in the early 1830s. A doctor, he practiced
in Salem and married there in 1831.
[2]
Helens father,
David Leonard, had moved his family west fromAssonet,
Massachusetts, in 1818, but died en route to Vincennes,
Indiana, and Helen relocated to Salem in 1830 to teach
school. Charles was not successful in Salem, and moved,
with his wife and children, to Warsaw, Illinois, in 1841.
[3]
In Warsaw, a Western Illinois town opposite the con-
uence of the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers, the
Hay family lived a dicult pioneer existence.
[4]
Men of
Warsaw, seeing the rival town of Nauvoo, populated by
Mormons, as a threat, formed a militia and with men from
nearby towns, lynched Mormon leaders Joseph Smith and
his brother Hyrum. Charles served as surgeon to the mili-
tia. John Hay, then aged ve, may have been among the
women and children who ed to the other side of the Mis-
sissippi out of fear of a Mormon revenge that did not
come, and in later writings took pains to minimize his
fathers role.
[5]
John attended the local schools, and in 1849 his uncle
Milton Hay invited John to live at his home in Pittseld,
Pike County, and attend a well-regarded local school,
[6]
the John D. Thomson Academy.
[7]
Milton was a friend
of Springeld attorney Abraham Lincoln, and had read
law in the rm Stuart and Lincoln.
[8]
In Pittseld, John
rst met John Nicolay, who was at the time a 20-year-old
1
2 2 AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
newspaperman.
[9]
Once John Hay completed his studies
there, the 13-year-old was sent to live with his grandfa-
ther in Springeld, and attend Illinois State University.
[6]
This was at the time little more than a high school.
[10]
Once Johns studies were done, he returned to Warsaw,
and his parents and uncle Milton (who nanced the boys
education) decided to send him to Brown University in
Providence, Rhode Island, alma mater of his late mater-
nal grandfather.
[10]
1.2 Student and Lincoln supporter
Hay enrolled at Brown in 1855.
[1]
Although he enjoyed
college life, he did not nd it easy: his Western
[lower-alpha 1]
clothing and accent made him stand out and the lim-
ited facilities at Illinois State had not adequately prepared
him. He missed many days because of illness, though
how much of that was due to actual physical ailments
is uncertain. Hay had hoped to graduate in two years,
but persuaded his parents and uncle to allow him to re-
main for a third. Despite his diculties, Hay gained a
reputation as a star student, and became a part of Prov-
idences literary circle that included Sarah Helen Whit-
man and Nora Perry. He wrote poetry, and experimented
with hashish.
[11]
Hay received his Master of Arts degree
in 1858, and was, like his grandfather before him, Class
Poet.
[12]
Hay returned to Warsaw and, not knowing what career
to undertake, suered a period of depression. According
to Howard Kushner and Anne Sherrill in their biography
of Hay, in the nal analysis the thing that rescued young
John Hay from despair was the continued support of his
family.
[13]
Milton Hay had moved his practice to Spring-
eld, and John became a law clerk in his rm, where he
could study law and become an attorney.
[14][15]
Milton Hays rm, one of the most prestigious in
Illinois,
[16]
included Stephen Logan, Lincolns former
partner, and Lincoln maintained oces next door. Al-
though a national gure due to his debates with Senator
Stephen Douglas, Lincoln remained a practicing attor-
ney, and in at least one case was co-counsel with Logan
and Milton Hay.
[17]
Another connection between Lincoln
and John Hay came through Nicolay, who had moved to
Springeld in 1856 where he printed campaign literature
for Lincoln. He was admitted to the bar in 1859 after
studying law under one of Lincolns close friends, Ozias
Hatch.
[18]
Hay recalled an early encounter with Lincoln:
He came into the law oce where I
was reading, which adjoined his own, with
a copy of Harpers Magazine in hand, con-
taining Senator Douglass famous article on
Popular Sovereignty [whether residents of each
territory could decide on slavery] Lincoln
seemed greatly roused by what he had read.
Entering the oce without a salutation, he
said: This will never do. He puts the moral
element out of this question. It won't stay
out.
[19]
Hay was not a supporter of Lincoln for president until af-
ter the former congressmans upset victory at the 1860
Republican National Convention in Chicago. Once he
was, Hay made speeches and wrote newspaper articles
boosting Lincolns candidacy. When Nicolay, who had
been made Lincolns private secretary for the campaign,
found he needed help with the huge amounts of corre-
spondence, Hay was brought on board,
[20][21]
and worked
full-time for Lincoln for six months.
[22]
Lincoln was elected president that November, and Nico-
lay, whom Lincoln had asked to continue as private sec-
retary, is said to have recommended that Hay be hired to
assist himat the White House. Lincoln is reported to have
said, We can't take all Illinois with us down to Washing-
ton but then Well, let Hay come.
[21]
Kushner and Sher-
rill were dubious about the story of Lincolns ohand
appointment of Hay as tting well into Hays self-image
of never having been an oce-seeker, but poorly into
the realities of Springeld politics of the 1860sHay
must have expected some reward for handling Lincolns
correspondence for months.
[23]
Hay biographer John Tal-
iaferro suggests that Lincoln engaged Nicolay and Hay to
assist him, rather than more seasoned men, both out of
loyalty and surely because of the competence and com-
patibility that his two young aides had demonstrated.
[24]
Historian Joshua Zeitz opines that Lincoln was moved to
hire Hay when Milton agreed to pay his nephews salary
for six months.
[25]
2 American Civil War
Main article: American Civil War
2.1 Secretary to Lincoln
Milton Hay desired that his nephew go to Washington as
a qualied attorney, and John Hay was admitted to the
bar in Illinois on February 4, 1861.
[8]
On February 11,
he embarked with President-elect Lincoln on a circuitous
journey to Washington.
[26]
By this time, several South-
ern states had seceded to form the Confederate States of
America in reaction to the election of Lincoln, seen as an
opponent of slavery.
[27]
When Lincoln was sworn in on
March 4, Hay and Nicolay moved into the White House,
sharing a shabby bedroom.
[lower-alpha 2]
As there was only
authority for payment of one presidential secretary (Nico-
lay), Hay was appointed to a post in the Interior Depart-
ment at $1,600 per year,
[lower-alpha 3]
seconded to service
at the White House. They were available to Lincoln 24
hours a day.
[23]
As Lincoln took no vacations as president
and worked seven days a week, often until 11 pm(or later,
2.1 Secretary to Lincoln 3
Hay in 1862
during crucial battles) the burden on his secretaries was
heavy.
[28]
Hay and Nicolay divided their responsibilities: Nicolay
tending to assist Lincoln in his oce and in meetings,
while Hay dealt with the correspondence, which was very
large. Both men tried to shield Lincoln from oce-
seekers and others who wanted to meet with the Presi-
dent. Unlike the dour Nicolay, Hay, with his charm, es-
caped much of the hard feelings from those denied Lin-
colns presence.
[29]
Abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Hig-
ginson described Hay as a nice young fellow, who un-
fortunately looks about seventeen and is oppressed with
the necessity of behaving like seventy.
[30]
Hay contin-
ued to write, anonymously, for newspapers, sending in
columns calculated to make Lincoln appear a sorrowful
man, religious and competent, giving of his life and health
to preserve the Union.
[31]
Similarly, Hay served as what
Taliaferro deemed a White House propagandist, in his
columns explaining away losses such as that at First Man-
assas in July 1861.
[32]
Hay wrote many letters for Lin-
colns signature: according to Taliaferro, Hay was the
likely author of the letter to Lydia Bixby, a Bostonian who
Lincoln was told had lost ve sons in the Union cause.
This gure was incorrect as she had lost two sons and
was a Southern sympathizer who apparently destroyed the
original. Reprinted widely in newspapers, the letter has
been prized among the best of Lincolns works by his ad-
mirers, but displays phrases more typical of Hays writ-
ings than the Presidents.
[33]
Despite the heavy workloadHay wrote that he was busy
20 hours a dayhe tried to make as normal a life as pos-
sible, eating his meals with Nicolay at Willards Hotel,
going to the theatre with Abraham and Mary Todd Lin-
coln, and reading Les Misrables in French. Hay, still in
his early 20s, spent time both in barrooms and at cultured
get-togethers in the homes of Washingtons elite.
[34]
The
Lincoln and his secretaries. Hay is on the right.
two secretaries often clashed with Mary Lincoln, who re-
sorted to various stratagems to get the dilapidated White
House restored without depleting Lincolns salary, which
had to cover entertainment and other expenses. Despite
the secretaries objections, Mrs. Lincoln was generally
the victor, and managed to save almost 70% of her hus-
bands salary in his four years in oce.
[35]
After the death of Lincolns 11-year-old son Willie in
February 1862 (an event not mentioned in Hays di-
ary or correspondence), it was Hay who became, if
not a surrogate son, then a young man who stirred a
higher form of parental nurturing that Lincoln, despite
his best intentions, did not successfully bestow on either
of his surviving children.
[36]
According to Hay biogra-
pher Robert Gale, Hay came to adore Lincoln for his
goodness, patience, understanding, sense of humor, hu-
mility, magnanimity, sense of justice, healthy skepticism,
resilience and power, love of the common man, and mys-
tical patriotism.
[37]
Speaker of the House Galusha Grow
stated, Lincoln was very much attached to him extquot-
edbl; writer Charles G. Halpine, who knew Hay then,
later recorded that Lincoln loved him as a son.
[38]
Hay and Nicolay accompanied Lincoln to Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, for the dedication of the cemetery there,
where were interred many of those who fell at the Battle
of Gettysburg. Although they made much of Lincolns
brief Gettysburg Address in their 1890 multi-volume bi-
ography of Lincoln, Hays diary states the President, in
a rm, free way, with more grace than is his wont, said
4 3 EARLY DIPLOMATIC CAREER
his half-dozen lines of consecration.
[39]
2.2 Presidential emissary; death of Lin-
coln
Hay as a young man. Portrait by Mathew Brady.
Lincoln sent Hay away from the White House on various
missions. In August 1861, Hay escorted Mary Lincoln
and her children to Long Branch, New Jersey, a resort on
the Jersey Shore, both as their caretaker and as a means of
giving Hay a much-needed break. The following month,
Lincoln sent him to Missouri to deliver a letter to Union
General John C. Frmont, who had irritated the President
with military blunders and by freeing local slaves without
authorization, endangering Lincolns attempts to keep the
border states in the Union.
[40]
In April 1863, Lincoln sent Hay to the Union-occupied
South Carolina coast to report back on the ironclad ves-
sels being used in an attempt to recapture Charleston
Harbor. Hay then went on to the Florida coast.
[41]
He
returned to Florida in January 1864, after Lincoln had
announced his Ten Percent Plan, that if ten percent of
the 1860 electorate in a state took oaths of loyalty and
to support emancipation, they could form a government
with federal protection. Lincoln considered Florida, with
its small population, a good test case, and made Hay a
major,
[lower-alpha 4]
sending him to see if he could get su-
cient men to take the oath. Hay spent a month in the state
during February and March 1864, but Union defeats there
reduced the area under federal control. Believing his mis-
sion impractical, he sailed back to Washington.
[42][43]
In July 1864, New York publisher Horace Greeley sent
word to Lincoln that there were Southern peace emis-
saries in Canada. Lincoln doubted that they actually
spoke for Confederate President Jeerson Davis, but had
Hay journey to New York to persuade the publisher to go
to Niagara Falls, Ontario, to meet with them and bring
themto Washington. Greeley reported to Lincoln that the
emissaries lacked accreditation by Davis, but were con-
dent they could bring both sides together. Lincoln sent
Hay to Ontario with what became known as the Niagara
Manifesto: that if the South laid down its arms, freed the
slaves, and reentered the Union, it could expect liberal
terms on other points. The Southerners refused to come
to Washington to negotiate.
[44]
By the end of 1864, with Lincoln reelected and the vic-
torious war winding down, both Hay and Nicolay let it
be known that they desired dierent jobs. They were ap-
pointed to the U.S. delegation in Paris, Nicolay as consul
and Hay as secretary of legation. Hay was present when
Lincoln died; he saw a look of unspeakable peace came
upon his worn features.
[45]
According to Kushner and Sherrill, Lincolns death was
for Hay a personal loss, like the loss of a father ...Lincolns
assassination erased any remaining doubts Hay had about
Lincolns greatness.
[46]
In 1866, in a personal letter, Hay
deemed Lincoln, the greatest character since Christ.
[37]
Taliaferro notes that Hay would spend the rest of his life
mourning Lincoln ... wherever Hay went and whatever he
did, Lincoln would always be watching.
[47]
3 Early diplomatic career
Hay sailed for Paris at the end of June 1865.
[48]
There, he
served under U.S. Minister to France John Bigelow.
[49]
The workload was not heavy, and Hay found time to en-
joy the pleasures of Paris.
[50]
When Bigelow resigned in
mid-1866,
[51]
Hay, as was customary, submitted his res-
ignation, though he was asked to remain until Bigelows
successor was in place, and stayed until January 1867.
He consulted with Secretary of State William H. Seward,
asking him for anything worth having.
[46]
Seward sug-
gested the post of Minister to Sweden, but reckoned with-
out the new president, Andrew Johnson, who had his own
candidate. Seward oered Hay a job as his private secre-
tary, but Hay declined, and returned home to Warsaw.
[52]
Initially happy to be home, Hay quickly grew restive,
[53]
and he was glad to hear, in early June 1867, that he
had been appointed secretary of legation to act as charg
d'aaires at Vienna. He sailed for Europe the same
month, and while in England visited the House of Com-
mons, where he was greatly impressed by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli.
[54]
The Vienna post
was only temporary, until Johnson could appoint a charg
d'aaires and have him conrmed by the Senate, and the
workload was light, allowing Hay, who was uent in Ger-
man, to spend much of his time traveling.
[55]
It was not
4.2 Return to politics 5
until July 1868 that Henry Watts became Hays replace-
ment. Hay resigned, spent the remainder of the summer
in Europe, then went home to Warsaw.
[56]
Unemployed again, in December 1868 Hay journeyed to
the capital, writing to Nicolay that he came to Wash-
ington in the peaceful pursuit of a fat oce. But there
is nothing just now available.
[57]
Seward promised to
wrestle with Andy for anything that turns up, but noth-
ing did prior to the departure of both Seward and John-
son from oce on March 4, 1869.
[58]
In May, Hay went
back to Washington from Warsaw to press his case with
the newGrant administration. The next month, due to the
inuence of his friends, he obtained the post of secretary
of legation in Spain.
[59]
Although the salary was low, Hay was interested in serv-
ing in Madrid both because of the political situation
thereQueen Isabella II had recently been deposed
and because the U.S. Minister was the swashbuckling for-
mer congressman, General Daniel Sickles. Hay hoped to
assist Sickles in gaining U.S. control over Cuba, then a
Spanish colony. Sickles was unsuccessful
[60]
and Hay re-
signed in May 1870, citing the low salary, but remaining
in his post until September.
[57]
Two legacies of Hays time
in Madrid were magazine articles he wrote that became
the basis of his rst book, Castilian Days, and his life-
long friendship with Sickless personal secretary, Alvey
A. Adee, who would be a close aide to Hay at the State
Department.
[61]
4 Wilderness years (187097)
4.1 Tribune and marriage
While still in Spain, Hay had been oered the position of
assistant editor at the New-York Tribuneboth the edi-
tor, Horace Greeley, and his managing editor, Whitelaw
Reid, were anxious to hire Hay. He joined the stain Oc-
tober 1870. The Tribune was the leading reform newspa-
per in New York,
[62]
and through mail subscriptions, the
largest-circulating newspaper in the nation.
[63]
Hay wrote
editorials for the Tribune, and Greeley soon proclaimed
him the most brilliant writer of breviers (as they were
called) that he had ever had.
[64]
With his success as an editorial writer, Hays duties ex-
panded. In October 1871, he journeyed to Chicago after
the great re there, interviewing Mrs. O'Leary, whose
cow was said to have started the blaze, describing her as
a woman with a lamp [who went] to the barn behind the
house, to milk the cow with the crumpled temper, that
kicked the lamp, that spilled the kerosene, that red the
straw that burned Chicago.
[65]
His work at the Tribune
came as his fame as a poet was reaching its peak, and one
colleague described it as a liberal education in the de-
lights of intellectual life to sit in intimate companionship
with John Hay and watch the play of that well-stored and
brilliant mind.
[66]
In addition to writing, Hay was signed
by the prestigious Boston Lyceum Bureau, whose clients
included Mark Twain and Susan B. Anthony, to give lec-
tures on the prospects for democracy in Europe, and on
his years in the Lincoln White House.
[67]
By the time President Grant ran for reelection in 1872,
Grants administration had been rocked by scandal, and
some disaected members of his party formed the
Liberal Republicans, naming Greeley as their candidate
for president,
[68]
a nomination soon joined in by the
Democrats. Hay was unenthusiastic about the editor-
turned-candidate, and in his editorials mostly took aim
at Grant, who, despite the scandals, remained untarred,
and who won a landslide victory in the election. Greeley
died only weeks later, a broken man. Hays stance endan-
gered his hitherto sterling credentials in the Republican
Party.
[69]
By 1873, Hay was wooing Clara Stone, daughter of
Cleveland multimillionaire railroad and banking mogul
Amasa Stone. The success of his suit (they married in
1874) made the salary attached to oce a small con-
sideration for the rest of his life. Amasa Stone needed
someone to watch over his investments, and wanted Hay
to move to Cleveland to ll the post.
[70]
Although the
Hays initially lived in Johns New York apartment and
later in a townhouse there, they moved in June 1875 to
Stones ornate home on Clevelands Euclid Avenue, Mil-
lionaires Row, and a mansion was quickly under con-
struction for the Hays next-door.
[71]
The Hays had four
children, Helen Hay Whitney, Adelbert Barnes Hay, Al-
ice Evelyn Hay Wadsworth Boyd, and Clarence Leonard
Hay.
[72]
Their father proved successful as a money man-
ager, though he devoted much of his time to literary and
political activities,
[73]
writing to Adee that I do nothing
but read and yawn.
[74]
On December 29, 1876, a bridge over Ohios Ashtabula
River collapsed. The bridge had been built from metal
cast at one of Stones mills, and was carrying a train
owned and operated by Stones Lake Shore and Michigan
Railway. Ninety-two people died; it was the worst rail
disaster in American history up to that point.
[75]
Blame
fell heavily on Stone, who departed for Europe to recu-
perate and left Hay in charge of his businesses.
[76]
The
summer of 1877 was marked by labor disputes; a strike
over wage cuts on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad soon
spread to the Lake Shore, much to Hays outrage. He
blamed foreign agitators for the dispute, and vented his
anger over the strike in his only novel, The Bread-Winners
(1883).
[77]
4.2 Return to politics
Hay remained disaected from the Republican Party in
the mid-1870s. Seeking a candidate of either party he
could support as a reformer, he watched as his favored
Democrat, Samuel Tilden, gained his partys nomination,
6 4 WILDERNESS YEARS (187097)
but his favored Republican, James G. Blaine, did not,
falling to Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, whom
Hay did not support during the campaign. Hayess victory
in the election left Hay an outsider as he sought a return to
politics, and he was initially oered no place in the new
administration.
[78]
Nevertheless, Hay attempted to ingra-
tiate himself with the newPresident by sending hima gold
ring with a strand of George Washingtons hair, a gesture
that Hayes deeply appreciated.
[79]
Hay spent time work-
ing with Nicolay on their Lincoln biography, and travel-
ing in Europe.
[80]
When Reid, who had succeeded Gree-
ley as editor of the Tribune, was oered the post of Min-
ister to Germany in December 1878, he turned it down
and recommended Hay. Secretary of State William M.
Evarts indicated that Hay had not been active enough in
political eorts, to Hays regret, who told Reid that he
would like a second-class mission uncommonly well.
[81]
James A. Gareld: the second president to be assassinated whom
Hay advised
From May to October 1879, Hay set out to reconrm
his credentials as a loyal Republican, giving speeches in
support of candidates and attacking the Democrats. In
October, President and Mrs. Hayes came to a reception
at Hays Cleveland home. When Assistant Secretary of
State Frederick W. Seward resigned later that month, Hay
was oered his place and accepted, after some hesitancy
because he was considering running for Congress.
[82]
In Washington, Hay oversaw a sta of eighty employees,
renewed his acquaintance with his friend Henry Adams,
and substituted for Evarts at Cabinet meetings when the
Secretary was out of town.
[83]
In 1880, he campaigned for
the Republican nominee for president, his fellow Ohioan,
Congressman James A. Gareld.
[84]
Hay felt that Gareld
did not have enough backbone, and hoped that Reid and
others would inoculate him with the gall which I fear
he lacks.
[85]
Gareld consulted Hay before and after his
election as president on appointments and other matters,
but oered Hay only the post of private secretary (though
he promised to increase its pay and power), and Hay
declined.
[86]
Hay resigned as assistant secretary eective
March 31, 1881, and spent the next seven months as act-
ing editor of the Tribune during Reids extended absence
in Europe. Garelds death in September and Reids re-
turn the following month left Hay again on the outside
of political power, looking in. He would spend the next
fteen years in that position.
[87]
4.3 Wealthy traveler (188197)
4.3.1 Author and dilettante
After 1881, Hay did not again hold public oce until
1897.
[87]
Amasa Stone committed suicide in 1883; his
death left the Hays very wealthy.
[88]
They spent several
months in most years traveling in Europe.
[88]
The Lin-
coln biography absorbed some of Hays time, the hardest
work being done with Nicolay in 1884 and 1885; begin-
ning in 1886, portions began appearing serially, and the
ten-volume biography was published in 1890.
[89]
In 1884, Hay and Adams commissioned architect Henry
Hobson Richardson to construct houses for them on
Washingtons Lafayette Square; these were completed by
1886.
[90]
Hays house, facing the White House
[91]
and
fronting on Sixteenth Street, was described even before
completion as the nest house in Washington.
[92]
The
price for the combined tract, purchased from William
Wilson Corcoran, was $73,800, of which Adams paid a
third for his lot.
[93]
Hay budgeted the construction cost
at $50,000;
[94]
his ornate, 12,000 square feet (1,100 m
2
)
mansion eventually cost over twice that. Despite their
possession of two lavish houses, the Hays spent less than
half the year in Washington and only a few weeks a year
in Cleveland.
[95]
They also spent time at The Fells, their
summer residence in Newbury, New Hampshire. Ac-
cording to Gale, for a full decade before his appoint-
ment in 1897 as ambassador to England, Hay was lazy
and uncertain.
[96]
Hay continued to devote much of his energy to Republi-
can politics. In 1884, he supported Blaine for president,
donating considerable sums to the senators unsuccessful
campaign against New York Governor Grover Cleveland.
Many of Hays friends were unenthusiastic about Blaines
candidacy, to Hays anger, and he wrote to editor Richard
Watson Gilder, I have never been able to appreciate the
logic that induces some excellent people every four years
because they cannot nominate the candidate they prefer to
vote for the party they don't prefer.
[97]
In 1888, Hay had
to follow his own advice as his favored candidate, Ohio
Senator John Sherman, was unsuccessful at the Repub-
lican convention. After some reluctance, Hay supported
4.3 Wealthy traveler (188197) 7
the nominee, former Indiana senator Benjamin Harrison,
who was elected. Though Harrison appointed men whom
Hay supported, including Blaine, Reid, and Robert Lin-
coln, Hay was not asked to serve in the Harrison admin-
istration. In 1890, Hay spoke for Republican congres-
sional candidates, addressing a rally of 10,000 people in
NewYork City, but the party was defeated, losing control
of Congress. Hay contributed funds to Harrisons unsuc-
cessful re-election eort, in part because Reid had been
made Harrisons 1892 running mate.
[98]
4.3.2 McKinley backer
For further information on the debate about the gold
standard in the 1896 campaign, see Cross of Gold speech.
Hay was an early supporter of Ohios William McKin-
ley, and worked closely with McKinleys political man-
ager, Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna. In 1889, Hay
supported McKinley in his unsuccessful eort to become
Speaker of the House.
[99]
Four years later, McKinley
by then Governor of Ohiofaced a crisis when a friend
whose notes he had imprudently co-signed went bankrupt
during the Panic of 1893. The debts were beyond the gov-
ernors means to pay, and the possibility of insolvency
threatened McKinleys promising political career. Hay
was among those Hanna called upon to contribute, buy-
ing up $3,000 of the debt of over $100,000. Although
others paid more, Hays checks were two of the rst, and
his touch was more personal, a kindness McKinley never
forgot. The governor wrote, How can I ever repay you
& other dear friends? extquotedbl
[100]
The same panic that nearly ruined McKinley convinced
Hay that men like himself must take oce to save the
country from disaster. By the end of 1894, he was
deeply involved in eorts to lay the groundwork for the
governors 1896 presidential bid. It was Hays job to
persuade potential supporters that McKinley was worth
backing.
[101]
Nevertheless, Hay found time for a lengthy
stay in New Hampshireone visitor at The Fells in
mid-1895 was Rudyard Kiplingand later in the year
wrote, The summer wanes and I have done nothing for
McKinley.
[102]
He atoned with a $500 check to Hanna,
the rst of many that were to follow.
[102]
During the
winter of 189596, Hay passed along what he heard
from other Republicans inuential in Washington, such
as Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
[103]
Hay spent part of the spring and early summer of 1896 in
the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in Europe. There
was a border dispute between Venezuela and British
Guiana, and Clevelands Secretary of State, Richard Ol-
ney, supported the Venezuelan position. Hay told British
politicians that McKinley, if elected, would be unlikely to
change course. McKinley was nominated in June 1896;
still, many Britons were minded to support whoever be-
came the Democratic candidate. This changed when the
Hay supported William McKinley in the 1896 presidential elec-
tion.
1896 Democratic National Convention nominated for-
mer Nebraska congressman William Jennings Bryan on a
extquotedblfree silver extquotedbl platform; he had elec-
tried the delegates with his Cross of Gold speech. Hay
reported to McKinley when he returned to Britain after a
brief stay on the Continent during which Bryan was nom-
inated in Chicago: they were all scared out of their wits
for fear Bryan would be elected, and very polite in their
references to you.
[104][105]
Once Hay returned to the United States in early August,
he went to The Fells and watched from afar as Bryan
barnstormed the nation in his campaign while McKinley
gave speeches from his front porch. Despite an invitation
from the candidate, Hay was reluctant to visit McKinley
at his home in Canton. He has asked me to come, but I
thought I would not struggle with the millions on his tram-
pled lawn.
[106]
In October, after basing himself at his
Cleveland home and giving a speech for McKinley, Hay
went to Canton at last, writing to Adams,
I had been dreading it for a month, think-
ing it would be like talking in a boiler factory.
But he met me at the [railroad] station, gave
me meat & took me upstairs and talked for two
hours as calmly & serenely as if we were sum-
mer boarders in Bethlehem, at a loss for means
to kill time. I was more struck than ever with
his mask. It is a genuine Italian ecclesiastical
face of the XVth Century.
[107]
8 5 AMBASSADOR
Hay was disgusted by Bryans speeches, writing in lan-
guage that Taliaferro compares to The Bread-Winners
that the Democrat simply reiterates the unquestioned
truths that every man with a clean shirt is a thief and ought
to be hanged: that there is no goodness and wisdom ex-
cept among the illiterate & criminal classes.
[107]
Despite
Bryans strenuous eorts, McKinley won the election eas-
ily, with a campaign run by himself and Hanna, and well-
nanced by supporters like Hay.
[107]
Henry Adams later
wondered, I would give six-pence to know how much
Hay paid for McKinley. His politics must have cost.
[108]
5 Ambassador
5.1 Appointment
In the post-election speculation as to who would be given
oce under McKinley, Hays name gured prominently,
as did that of Whitelaw Reid; both men sought high of-
ce in the State Department, either as secretary or one of
the major ambassadorial posts. Reid, in addition to his
vice-presidential run, had been Minister to France under
Harrison. Reid, an asthmatic, handicapped himself by
departing for Arizona Territory for the winter, leading to
speculation about his health.
[109]
Mark Hanna
Hay was faster than Reid to realize that the race for these
posts would be aected by Hannas desire to be sena-
tor from Ohio, as with one of the states places about
to be occupied by the newly elected Joseph B. Foraker,
the only possible seat for him was that held by Senator
Sherman. As the septuagenarian senator had served as
Treasury Secretary under Hayes, only the secretaryship
of state was likely to attract him and cause a vacancy that
Hanna could ll. Hay knew that with only eight cabinet
positions, only one could go to an Ohioan, and so Hay
had no chance for a cabinet post. Accordingly, Hay en-
couraged Reid to seek the State position, while rmly
ruling himself out as a possible candidate for that post,
and quietly seeking the inside track to be ambassador in
London.
[109]
Zeitz states that Hay aggressively lobbied
for the position.
[110]
According to Taliaferro, only after the deed was ac-
complished and Hay was installed as the ambassador to
the Court of St. Jamess would it be possible to detect
just how subtly and completely he had nessed his ally
and friend, Whitelaw Reid.
[111]
A telegraph from Hay to
McKinley in the latters papers, dated December 26 (most
likely 1896) reveals the formers suggestion that McKin-
ley tell Reid that the editors friends had insisted that Reid
not endanger his health through oce, especially in Lon-
dons smoggy climes. The following month, in a letter,
Hay set forth his own case for the ambassadorship, and
urged McKinley to act quickly, as suitable accommoda-
tions in London would be dicult to secure. Hay gained
his object (as did Hanna), and shifted his focus to ap-
peasing Reid. Taliaferro states that Reid never blamed
Hay,
[112]
but Kushner and Sherrill recorded, Reid was
certain that he had been wronged by Hay, and the an-
nouncement of Hays appointment nearly ended their 26-
year friendship.
[113]
Reaction to Hays appointment in Britain was generally
positive, with George Smalley of The Times writing to
him, we want a man who is a true American yet not
anti-English.
[114]
Hay secured a Georgian house on Carl-
ton House Terrace, overlooking Horse Guards Parade,
with 11 servants. He brought with him Clara, their own
silver, two carriages, and ve horses. Hays salary of
$17,000
[115]
did not even begin to cover the cost of their
extravagant lifestyle.
[110]
5.2 Service
During his service as ambassador, Hay attempted to ad-
vance the relationship between the U.S. and Britain. The
latter country had long been seen negatively by many
Americans, legacy of its colonial role and refreshed by
its Civil War neutrality, when British-built raiders such
as the Alabama preyed on US-agged ships. In spite
of these past dierences, according to Taliaferro, rap-
prochement made more sense than at any time in their re-
spective histories.
[116]
In his Thanksgiving Day address
to the American Society in London in 1897, Hay echoed
these points, The great body of people in the United
States and England are friends ... [sharing] that intense
respect and reverence for order, liberty, and law which is
so profound a sentiment in both countries.
[117]
Although
Hay was not successful in resolving specic controversies
in his year and a third as ambassador, both he and British
policymakers regarded his tenure as a success, because
of the advancement of good feelings and cooperation be-
tween the two nations.
[118]
9
Caricature of Hay in Vanity Fair 1897
An ongoing dispute between the U.S. and Britain was
over the practice of pelagic sealing, that is, the capture
of seals oshore of Alaska. The U.S. considered them
American resources; the Canadians (Britain was still re-
sponsible for that dominions foreign policy) contended
that the mammals were being taken on the high seas, free
to all. Soon after Hays arrival, McKinley sent former
Secretary of State John W. Foster to London to negotiate
the issue. Foster quickly issued an accusatory note to the
British that was printed in the newspapers. Although Hay
was successful in getting Lord Salisbury, then both Prime
Minister and Foreign Secretary, to agree to a conference
to decide the matter, the British withdrew when the U.S.
also invited Russia and Japan, rendering the conference
ineective.
[119]
Another issue on which no agreement was
reached was that of bimetallism: McKinley had promised
silver-leaning Republicans to seek an international agree-
ment varying the price ratio between silver and gold to
allow for free coinage of silver, and Hay was instructed
to seek British participation. The British would only join
if the Indian colonial government (on a silver standard un-
til 1893) was willing; this did not occur, and coupled with
an improving economic situation that decreased support
for bimetallism in the United States, no agreement was
reached.
[120]
Hay had little involvement in the crisis over Cuba that cul-
minated in the Spanish-American War. He met with Lord
Salisbury in October 1897 and gained assurances Britain
would not intervene if the U.S. found it necessary to go to
war against Spain. Hays role was to make friends and to
pass along the English point of view to Washington.
[121]
Hay spent much of early 1898 on an extended trip to the
Middle East, and did not return to London until the last
week of March, by which time the USS Maine had ex-
ploded in Havana harbor. During the war, he worked to
ensure U.S.-British amity,
[122]
and British acceptance of
the U.S. occupation of the PhilippinesSalisbury and his
government preferred that the U.S. have the islands than
have them fall into the hands of the Germans.
[123]
In its early days, Hay described the war as necessary as it
is righteous.
[124]
In July, writing to former Assistant Sec-
retary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, who had gained
wartime glory by leading the Rough Riders volunteer reg-
iment, Hay made a description of the war
[125]
for which,
according to Zeitz, he is best remembered by many stu-
dents of American history extquotedbl:
[126]
It has been a splendid little war, begun with
the highest motives, carried on with magnif-
icent intelligence and spirit, favored by that
Fortune that loves the brave. It is now to be
concluded, I hope, with that ne good nature,
which is, after all, the distinguishing trait of the
American character.
[125]
Secretary Sherman had resigned on the eve of war, and
been replaced by his rst assistant, William R. Day. One
of McKinleys Canton cronies, with little experience of
statecraft, Day was never intended as more than a tem-
porary wartime replacement.
[127]
With America about to
splash her ag across the Pacic, McKinley needed a
secretary with stronger credentials.
[128]
On August 14,
1898, Hay received a telegram from McKinley that Day
would head the American delegation to the peace talks
with Spain, and that Hay would be the new Secretary of
State. After some indecision, Hay, who did not think he
could decline and still remain as ambassador, accepted.
British response to Hays promotion was generally posi-
tive, and Queen Victoria, after he took formal leave of
her at Osborne House, invited him again the following
day, and subsequently pronounced him, the most inter-
esting of all the Ambassadors I have known.
[129]
6 Secretary of State
6.1 McKinley years
John Hay was sworn in as Secretary of State on Septem-
ber 30, 1898. He needed little introduction to Cabinet
10 6 SECRETARY OF STATE
Hay signs the Treaty of Paris, 1899
meetings, and sat at the Presidents right hand. Meet-
ings were held in the Cabinet Room of the White House,
where he found his old oce and bedroom each occupied
by several clerks. Now responsible for 1,300 federal em-
ployees, he leaned heavily for administrative help on his
old friend Alvey Adee, the second assistant.
[130]
By the time Hay took oce, the war was eectively over
and it had been decided to strip Spain of her overseas em-
pire and transfer at least part of it to the United States.
[131]
At the time of Hays swearing-in, McKinley was still un-
decided whether to take the Philippines, but in October
nally decided to do so, and Hay sent instructions to Day
and the other peace commissioners to insist on it. Spain
yielded, and the result was the Treaty of Paris, narrowly
ratied by the Senate in February 1899 over the objec-
tions of anti-imperialists.
[132]
6.1.1 Open Door Policy
Main article: Open Door Policy
By the 1890s, China had become a major trading partner
for Western nations, and for Japan. China lacked mili-
tary muscle to resist these countries, and several, includ-
ing Russia, Britain, and Germany, had carved o bits of
Chinasome known as treaty portsfor use as trading
or military bases. Within those jurisdictions, the nation
in possession often gave preference to its own citizens in
trade or in developing infrastructure such as railroads.
Although the United States did not claim any parts of
China, a third of the China trade was carried in Amer-
ican ships, and having an outpost near there was a major
factor in deciding to retain the former Spanish colony of
the Philippines in the Treaty of Paris.
[133][134]
Hay had been concerned about the Far East since the
1870s. As Ambassador, he had attempted to forge a
common policy with the British, but the United Kingdom
was willing to undertake territorial acquisition in China
to guard its interests there whereas McKinley was not.
In March 1898, Hay warned that Russia, Germany, and
France were seeking to exclude Britain and America from
the China trade, but he was disregarded by Sherman, who
accepted assurances from Russia and Germany.
[134]
McKinley was of the view that equality of opportu-
nity for American trade in China was key to success
there, rather than colonial acquisitions; that Hay shared
these views was one reason for his appointment as Sec-
retary of State.
[135]
Many inuential Americans, seeing
coastal China being divided into spheres of inuence,
urged McKinley to join in; still, in his annual message
to Congress in December 1898, he stated that as long
as Americans were not discriminated against, he saw no
need for the United States to become an actor in the
scene.
[136]
As Secretary of State, it was Hays responsibility to put
together a workable China policy. He was advised by
WilliamRockhill, an old China hand.
[137]
Also inuential
was Charles Beresford, a British Member of Parliament
who gave a number of speeches to American business-
men, met with McKinley and Hay, and in a letter to the
secretary stated that it is imperative for American inter-
ests as well as our own that the policy of the 'open door'
should be maintained.
[138]
Assuring that all would play
on an even playing eld in China would give the foreign
powers little incentive to dismember the Chinese Empire
through territorial acquisition.
[139]
In mid-1899, the British inspector of Chinese maritime
customs, Alfred Hippisley, visited the United States. In
a letter to Rockhill, a friend, he urged that the United
States and other powers agree to uniform Chinese taris,
including in the enclaves. Rockhill passed the letter on
to Hay,
[139]
and subsequently summarized the thinking
of Hippisley and others, that there should be an open
market through China for our trade on terms of equal-
ity with all other foreigners.
[140]
Hay was in agreement,
but feared Senate and popular opposition, and wanted to
avoid Senate ratication of a treaty.
[141]
Rockhill drafted
the rst Open Door note, calling for equality of commer-
cial opportunity for foreigners in China.
[142]
Hay formally issued his Open Door note on September
6, 1899. This was not a treaty, and did not require the
approval of the Senate. Most of the powers had at least
some caveats, and negotiations continued through the re-
mainder of the year. On March 20, 1900, Hay announced
that all powers had agreed, and he was not contradicted.
Former secretary Day wrote to Hay, congratulating him,
moving at the right time and in the right manner, you
have secured a diplomatic triumph in the 'open door' in
China of the rst importance to your country.
[143]
6.1.2 Boxer Rebellion
Main article: Boxer Rebellion
6.2 Theodore Roosevelt administration 11
Little thought was given to the Chinese reaction to the
Open Door note; the Chinese minister in Washington,
Wu Ting-fang, did not learn of it until he read of it in
the newspapers.
[144]
Among those in China who opposed
Western inuence there was a movement in Shantung
Province, in the north, that became known as the Fists of
Righteous Harmony, or Boxers, after the martial arts they
practiced. The Boxers were especially angered by mis-
sionaries and their converts. As late as June 1900, Rock-
hill dismissed the Boxers, contending that they would
soon disband. By the middle of that month, the Boxers,
joined by imperial troops, had cut the railroad between
Peking and the coast, killed many missionaries and con-
verts, and besieged the foreign legations. Hay faced a pre-
carious situation; how to rescue the Americans trapped in
Peking, and how to avoid giving the other powers an ex-
cuse to partition China, in an election year when there
was already Democrat opposition to what they deemed
American imperialism.
[145]
As American troops were sent to China to relieve the na-
tions legation, Hay sent a letter to foreign powers (of-
ten called the Second Open Door note), stating while
the United States wanted to see lives preserved and the
guilty punished, it intended that China not be dismem-
bered. Hay issued this on July 3, 1900, suspecting that
the powers were quietly making private arrangements to
divide up China. Communication between the foreign
legations and the outside world had been cut o, and the
personnel there were presumed slaughtered, but Hay re-
alized that Minister Wu could get a message in, and Hay
was able to establish communication. Hay suggested to
the Chinese government that it now cooperate for its own
good. When the foreign relief force, principally Japanese
but including 2,000 Americans, relieved the legations and
sacked Peking, China was made to pay a huge indemnity
but there was no cession of land.
[146][147]
6.1.3 Death of McKinley
Main article: Assassination of William McKinley
McKinleys vice president, Garret Hobart, had died in
November 1899. Under the laws then in force, this made
Hay next in line to the presidency should anything happen
to McKinley. There was a presidential election in 1900,
and McKinley was unanimously renominated at the Re-
publican National Convention that year. He allowed the
convention to make its own choice of running mate, and it
selected Roosevelt, by then Governor of New York. Sen-
ator Hanna bitterly opposed that choice, but nevertheless
raised millions for the McKinley/Roosevelt ticket, which
was elected.
[148]
Hay accompanied McKinley on his nationwide train tour
in mid-1901, during which both men visited California
and saw the Pacic Ocean for the only times in their
lives.
[149]
The summer of 1901 was tragic for Hay; his
older son Adelbert, who had been consul in Pretoria dur-
ing the Boer War and was about to become McKinleys
personal secretary, died in a fall from a New Haven hotel
window.
[150][151]
Secretary Hay was at The Fells when McKinley was shot
by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, on September 6 in Buf-
falo. With Vice President Roosevelt and much of the cab-
inet hastening to the bedside of McKinley, who had been
operated on (it was thought successfully) soon after the
shooting, Hay planned to go to Washington to manage
the communication with foreign governments, but pres-
idential secretary George Cortelyou urged him to come
to Bualo.
[152]
He traveled to Bualo on September 10;
hearing on his arrival an account of the Presidents re-
covery, Hay responded that McKinley would die.
[153]
He
was more cheerful after visiting McKinley, giving a state-
ment to the press, and went to Washington, as Roosevelt
and other ocials also dispersed. Hay was about to re-
turn to New Hampshire on the 13th, when word came
that McKinley was dying. Hay remained at his oce
and the next morning, on the way to Bualo, the former
Rough Rider received from Hay his rst communication
as head of state, ocially informing President Roosevelt
of McKinleys death.
[154]
6.2 Theodore Roosevelt administration
6.2.1 Staying on
Theodore Roosevelt
Hay, again next in line to the presidency, remained in
Washington as McKinleys body was transported to the
12 6 SECRETARY OF STATE
capital by funeral train, and stayed there as the late pres-
ident was taken to Canton for interment.
[155]
He had ad-
mired McKinley, describing him as awfully like Lin-
coln in many respects
[156]
and wrote to a friend, what a
strange and tragic fate it has been of mineto stand by
the bier of three of my dearest friends, Lincoln, Gareld,
and McKinley, three of the gentlest of men, all risen to be
head of the State, and all done to death by assassins.
[157]
By letter, Hay oered his resignation to Roosevelt while
the new president was still in Bualo, amid newspa-
per speculation that Hay would be replacedGarelds
Secretary of State, Blaine, had not remained long un-
der the Arthur administration.
[158]
When Hay met the
funeral train in Washington, Roosevelt greeted him at
the station and immediately told him he must stay on as
Secretary.
[159]
According to Zeitz, Roosevelts acciden-
tal ascendance to the presidency made John Hay an essen-
tial anachronism ... the wise elder statesman and senior
member of the cabinet, he was indispensable to TR, who
even today remains the youngest president ever.
[160]
The deaths of his son and of McKinley were not the
only griefs Hay suered in 1901on September 26, John
Nicolay died after a long illness, as did Hays close friend
Clarence King on Christmas Eve.
[161]
6.2.2 Panama
Hays involvement in the eorts to have a canal joining
the oceans in Central America went back to his time as
Assistant Secretary of State under Hayes, when he served
as translator for Ferdinand de Lesseps in his eorts to in-
terest the American government in investing in his canal
company. President Hayes was only interested in the idea
of a canal under American control, which de Lessepss
project would not be.
[162]
By the time Hay became Sec-
retary of State, de Lessepss project in Panama (then a
Colombian province) had collapsed, as had an American-
run project in Nicaragua.
[163]
The 1850 Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty forbade the United States from building a Central
American canal that it exclusively controlled, and Hay,
fromearly in his tenure, sought the removal of this restric-
tion. But the Canadians, for whose foreign policy Britain
was still available, saw the canal matter as their greatest
leverage to get other disputes resolved in their favor, per-
suaded Salisbury not to resolve it independently. Shortly
before Hay took oce, Britain and the U.S. agreed to es-
tablish a Joint High Commission to adjudicate unsettled
matters, which met in late 1898 but made slow progress,
especially on the Canada-Alaska boundary.
[164][165]
The Alaska issue became less contentious in August 1899
when the Canadians accepted a provisional boundary
pending nal settlement.
[166]
With Congress anxious to
begin work on a canal bill, and increasingly likely to ig-
nore the Clayton-Bulwer restriction, Hay and British Am-
bassador Julian Pauncefote began work on a new treaty in
January 1900. The rst Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was sent
to the Senate the following month, where it met a cold
reception, as the terms forbade the United States from
blockading or fortifying the canal, that was to be open to
all nations in wartime as in peace. The Senate Foreign
Relations Committee added an amendment allowing the
U.S. to fortify the canal, then in March postponed fur-
ther consideration until after the 1900 election. Hay sub-
mitted his resignation, which McKinley refused.
[167]
The
treaty, as amended, was ratied by the Senate in Decem-
ber, but the British would not agree to the changes.
[168]
Despite the lack of agreement, Congress was enthusias-
tic about a canal, and was inclined to move forward, with
or without a treaty. Authorizing legislation was slowed
by discussion on whether to take the Nicaraguan or Pana-
manian route.
[169]
Much of the negotiation of a revised
treaty, allowing the U.S. to fortify the canal, took place
between Hays replacement in London, Joseph H. Choate,
and the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne, and
the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was ratied by the
Senate by a large margin on December 6, 1901.
[170]
Seeing that the Americans were likely to build a
Nicaragua Canal, the owners of the defunct French com-
pany, including Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who still had ex-
clusive rights to the Panama route, lowered their price.
Beginning in early 1902, President Roosevelt became a
backer of the latter route, and Congress passed legis-
lation for it, if it could be secured within a reasonable
time.
[171]
In June, Roosevelt told Hay to take personal
charge of the negotiations with Colombia.
[172]
Later that
year, Hay began talks with Colombias acting minister
in Washington, Toms Herrn. The Hay-Herrn Treaty,
granting $10 million to Colombia for the right to build a
canal, plus $250,000 annually, was signed on January 22,
1903, and ratied by the United States Senate two months
later.
[173]
In August, however, the treaty was rejected by
the Colombian Senate.
[174]
Roosevelt was minded to build the canal anyway, using
an earlier treaty with Colombia that gave the U.S. transit
rights in regard to the Panama Railroad. Hay predicted
an insurrection on the Isthmus [of Panama] against that
regime of folly and graft ... at Bogot extquotedbl.
[175]
Bunau-Varilla gained meetings with both men, and as-
sured them that a revolution, and a Panamanian govern-
ment more friendly to a canal, was coming. In Octo-
ber, Roosevelt ordered Navy ships to be stationed near
Panama. The Panamanians duly revolted in early Novem-
ber 1903, with Colombian interference deterred by the
presence of U.S. forces. By prearrangement, Bunau-
Varilla was appointed representative of the nascent nation
in Washington, and quickly negotiated the HayBunau-
Varilla Treaty, signed on November 18, giving the United
States the right to build the canal in a zone 10 miles (16
km) wide, over which the U.S. would exercise full juris-
diction. This was less than satisfactory to the Panama-
nian diplomats who arrived in Washington shortly after
the signing, but they did not dare renounce it. The treaty
was approved by the two nations, and work on the Panama
6.2 Theodore Roosevelt administration 13
Canal began in 1904.
[176]
Hay wrote to Secretary of War
Elihu Root, praising the perfectly regular course which
the President did follow as much preferable to armed
occupation of the isthmus.
[177]
6.2.3 Relationship with Roosevelt, other events
Hay had met the Presidents father, Theodore Roosevelt,
Sr., during the Civil War, and during his time at the
Tribune came to know the adolescent Teddy, twenty
years younger than himself.
[99]
Although before becom-
ing president Roosevelt often wrote fulsome letters of
praise to Secretary Hay, his letters to others then and later
were less complimentary. Hay felt Roosevelt too impul-
sive, and privately opposed his inclusion on the ticket in
1900, though he quickly wrote a congratulatory note after
the convention.
[178]
As President and Secretary of State, the two men took
pains to cultivate a cordial relationship. Roosevelt read
all ten volumes of the Lincoln biography
[160]
and in mid-
1903, wrote to Hay that by then I have had a chance
to know far more fully what a really great Secretary of
State you are.
[174]
Hay for his part publicly praised Roo-
sevelt as young, gallant, able, [and] brilliant, words that
Roosevelt wrote that he hoped would be engraved on his
tombstone.
[160]
Privately, and in correspondence with others, they were
less generous: Hay grumbled that while McKinley would
give him his full attention, Roosevelt was always busy
with others, and it would be an hours wait for a minutes
talk.
[160]
Roosevelt, after Hays death in 1905, wrote
to Senator Lodge that Hay had not been a great Sec-
retary of State ... under me he accomplished little ...
his usefulness to me was almost exclusively the useful-
ness of a ne gurehead.
[179]
Nevertheless, when Roo-
sevelt successfully sought election in his own right in
1904, he persuaded the aging and inrm Hay to cam-
paign for him, and Hay gave a speech linking the admin-
istrations policies with those of Lincoln: there is not a
principle avowed by the Republican party to-day which
is out of harmony with his [Lincolns] teaching or incon-
sistent with his character.
[180]
Kushner and Sherrill sug-
gested that the dierences between Hay and Roosevelt
were more style than ideological substance.
[181]
In December 1902, the German government asked Roo-
sevelt to arbitrate its dispute with Venezuela over unpaid
debts. Hay did not think this appropriate, as Venezuela
also owed the U.S. money, and quickly arranged for the
International Court of Arbitration in The Hague to step
in. Hay supposedly said, as nal details were being
worked out, I have it all arranged. If Teddy will keep
his mouth shut until tomorrow noon! extquotedbl
[182]
Hay and Roosevelt also diered over the composition of
the Joint High Commission that was to settle the Alaska
boundary dispute. The commission was to be composed
of impartial jurists and the British and Canadians duly
appointed notable judges. Roosevelt appointed politi-
cians, including Secretary Root and Senator Lodge. Al-
though Hay was supportive of the Presidents choices in
public, in private he protested loudly to Roosevelt, com-
plained by letter to his friends, and oered his resigna-
tion. Roosevelt declined it, but the incident conrmed
him in his belief that Hay was too much of an Anglophile
to be trusted where Britain was concerned. The Amer-
ican position on the boundary dispute was imposed on
Canada by a 42 vote, with the one English judge joining
the three Americans.
[182]
Political cartoon on the Perdicaris aair
One incident involving Hay that benetted Roosevelt po-
litically was the kidnapping of Greek-American playboy
Ion Perdicaris in Morocco
[lower-alpha 5]
by chieftain Mulai
Ahmed er Raisuli, an opponent of Sultan Abdelaziz.
Raisuli demanded a ransom, but also wanted political
prisoners to be released and control of Tangier in place of
the military governor. Raisuli supposed Perdicaris to be
a wealthy American, and hoped United States pressure
would secure his demands. In fact, Perdicaris, though
born in New Jersey, had renounced his citizenship dur-
ing the Civil War to avoid Confederate conscation of
property in South Carolina, and had accepted Greek nat-
uralization, a fact not generally known until years later,
but that decreased Roosevelts desire for military ac-
tion. The sultan was ineective in dealing with the inci-
dent, and Roosevelt considered seizing the Tangier water-
front, source of much of Abdelazizs income, as a means
of motivating him. With Raisulis demands escalating,
Hay, with Roosevelts approval, nally cabled the consul-
general in Tangier, Samuel Gummer:
We want Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead.
14 7 LITERARY CAREER
We desire least possible complications with
Morocco or other Powers. You will not
arrange for landing marines or seizing cus-
toms house without specic direction from the
[State] department.
[183][184]
The 1904 Republican National Convention was in ses-
sion, and the Speaker of the House, Joseph Can-
non, its chair, read the rst sentence of the cable
and only the rst sentenceto the convention, elec-
trifying what had been a humdrum coronation of
Roosevelt.
[lower-alpha 6][185]
The results were perfect.
This was the ghting Teddy that America loved,
and his frenzied supportersand American chauvinists
everywhereroared in delight.
[184]
In fact, by then the
sultan had already agreed to the demands, and Perdicaris
was released. What was seen as tough talk boosted Roo-
sevelts election chances.
[185]
6.2.4 Final months and death
Hay, circa 1904
Hay never fully recovered from the death of his son Adel-
bert, writing in 1904 to his close friend Lizzie Cameron
that the death of our boy made my wife and me old, at
once and for the rest of our lives.
[186]
Gale described
Hay in his nal years as a saddened, slowly dying old
man.
[187]
Although Hay gave speeches in support of Roosevelt, he
spent much of the fall of 1904 at his New Hampshire
house or with his younger brother Charles, who was ill
in Boston. After the election, Roosevelt asked Hay to
remain another four years. Hay asked for time to con-
sider, but the President did not allowit, announcing to the
press two days later that Hay would stay at his post. Early
1905 saw futility for Hay, as a number of treaties he had
negotiated were defeated or amended by the Senate
one involving the British dominion of Newfoundland due
to Senator Lodges fears it would harm his sherman
constituents. Others, promoting arbitration, were voted
down or amended because the Senate did not want to be
bypassed in the settlement of international disputes.
[188]
By Roosevelts inauguration on March 4, 1905, Hays
health was so bad that both his wife and his friend
Henry Adams insisted on his going to Europe, where he
could rest and get medical treatment. Presidential doctor
Presley Rixey issued a statement that Hay was suering
fromoverwork, but in letters the secretary hinted his con-
viction that he did not have long to live.
[189]
An eminent
physician in Italy prescribed medicinal baths for Hays
heart condition, and he duly journeyed to Bad Nauheim,
near Frankfurt, Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm II was among
the monarchs who wrote to Hay asking him to visit,
though he declined; Belgian King Leopold II succeeded in
seeing him by showing up at his hotel, unannounced.
[190]
Adams suggested that Hay retire while there was still
enough life left in him to do so, and that Roosevelt would
be delighted to act as his own Secretary of State.
[191]
Hay
jokingly wrote to sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens that
there is nothing the matter with me except old age, the
Senate, and one or two other mortal maladies.
[192]
After the course of treatment, Hay went to Paris and be-
gan to take on his workload again by meeting with the
French foreign minister, Thophile Delcass. In London,
King Edward VII broke protocol by meeting with Hay in
a small drawing room, and Hay lunched with Whitelaw
Reid, ambassador in London at last. There was not time
to see all who wished to see Hay on what he knew was his
nal visit.
[193]
Despite his familys desire to take him to
New Hampshire, the Secretary returned to Washington
to deal with departmental business and say Ave Caesar!
to the President, as Hay put it.
[194]
He was pleased to
learn that Roosevelt was well on his way to settling the
Russo-Japanese War, an action for which the President
would win the Nobel Peace Prize.
[195]
Hay left Washing-
ton for the last time on June 23, 1905, arriving in New
Hampshire the following day. He died there on July 1
of his heart ailment and complications. Hay was interred
in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, near the grave of
Gareld, in the presence of Roosevelt and many digni-
taries, including Robert Lincoln.
[196]
7 Literary career
7.2 The Bread-Winners 15
7.1 Early works
Hay wrote some poetry while at Brown University, and
more during the Civil War.
[197]
In 1865, early in his Paris
stay, Hay penned Sunrise in the Place de la Concorde,
a poem attacking Napoleon III for his reinstitution of
the monarchy, depicting the Emperor as having been en-
trusted with the child Democracy by Liberty, and stran-
gling it with his own hands.
[198]
In ATriumph of Order,
set in the breakup of the Paris Commune, a boy promises
soldiers that he will return from an errand to be executed
with his fellowrebels. Much to their surprise, he keeps his
word and shouts to them to blaze away as The Chasse-
pots tore the stout young heart,/And saved Society.
[199]
In poetry, he sought the revolutionary outcome for other
nations that he believed had come to a successful conclu-
sion in the United States. His 1871 poem, The Prayer
of the Romans, recites Italian history up to that time,
with the Risorgimento in progress: liberty cannot be truly
present until crosier and crown pass away, when there
will be One freedom, one faith without fetters,/One re-
public in Italy free! extquotedbl
[200]
His stay in Vienna
yielded The Curse of Hungary, in which Hay fore-
sees the end of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.
[201]
Af-
ter Hays death in 1905, William Dean Howells sug-
gested that the Europe-themed poems expressed extquot-
edbl(now, perhaps, old-fashioned) American sympathy
for all the oppressed.
[202]
Castilian Days, souvenir of
Hays time in Madrid, is a collection of seventeen es-
says about Spanish history and customs, rst published in
1871, though several of the individual chapters appeared
in The Atlantic in 1870. It went through eight editions
in Hays lifetime. The Spanish are depicted as aicted
by the triple curse of crown, crozier, and sabremost
kings and ecclesiastics are presented as uselessand Hay
pins his hope in the republican movement in Spain.
[203]
Gale deems Castilian Days a remarkable, if biased, book
of essays about Spanish civilization.
[204]
And this was all the religion he had
To treat his engine well,
Never be passed on the river
And mind the pilots bell.
And if ever the Prairie Belle took re,
A hundred times he swore,
He'd hold her nozzle agin the bank
Till the last soul got ashore.

John Hay, Jim Bludso (1871)

[205]
Pike County Ballads, a grouping of six poems published
(with other Hay poetry) as a book in 1871,
[206]
brought
him great success. Written in the dialect of Pike County,
Illinois, where Hay went to school as a child, they are ap-
proximately contemporaneous with pioneering poems in
similar dialect by Bret Harte and there has been debate as
to which came rst.
[207]
The poem that brought the great-
est immediate reaction was Jim Bludso, about a boat-
man who is no saint with one wife in Mississippi and
another in Illinois.
[208]
Yet, when his steamboat catches
re, He saw his duty, a dead-sure thing,/And went
for it, thar and then.
[209]
Jim holds the burning steam-
boat against the riverbank until the last passenger gets
ashore, at the cost of his life. Hays narrator states that,
And Christ ain't a-going to be too hard/On a man that
died for men. Hays poemoended some clergymen, but
was widely reprinted and even included in anthologies of
verse.
[210]
7.2 The Bread-Winners
Main article: The Bread-Winners
The Bread-Winners, one of the rst novels to take an anti-
First edition cover of The Bread-Winners (1883)
labor perspective, was published anonymously in 1883
(published editions did not bear Hays name until 1916)
and he may have tried to disguise his writing style.
[211]
The book examines two conicts: between capital and
labor, and between the nouveau riche and old money.
In writing it, Hay was inuenced by the labor unrest of
the 1870s, that aected him personally, as corporations
belonging to Stone, his father-in-law, were among those
struck,
[212]
at a time when Hay had been left in charge in
Stones absence. According to historian Scott Dalrymple,
in response, Hay proceeded to write an indictment of or-
ganized labor so scathing, so vehement, that he dared not
16 8 ASSESSMENT AND LEGACY
attach his name to it.
[213]
The major character is Arthur Farnham, a wealthy Civil
War veteran, likely based on Hay.
[214]
Farnham, who
inherited money, is without much inuence in munici-
pal politics, as his ticket is defeated in elections, sym-
bolic of the decreasing inuence of Americas old-money
patricians.
[215]
The villain is Andrew Jackson Ott (true
name Ananias Ott), who leads the Bread-winners, a
labor organization that begins a violent general strike.
Peace is restored by a group of veterans led by Farnham,
and, at the end, he appears likely to marry Alice Belding,
a woman of his own class.
[214]
Although unusual among the many books inspired by the
labor unrest of the late 1870s in taking the perspective of
the wealthy, it was the most successful of them, and was
a sensation, gaining many favorable reviews.
[216]
It was
also attacked as an anti-labor polemic with an upper-class
bias.
[217]
There were many guesses as to authorship, with
the supposed authors ranging from Hays friend Henry
Adams to NewYork Governor Grover Cleveland, and the
speculation fueled sales.
[213]
7.3 Lincoln biography
Main article: Abraham Lincoln: A History
Early in his presidency, Hay and Nicolay requested
and received permission from Lincoln to write his
biography.
[23]
By 1872, Hay was convinced that we
ought to be at work on our 'Lincoln.' I don't think the time
for publication has come, but the time for preparation
is slipping away.
[218]
Robert Lincoln in 1874 formally
agreed to let Hay and Nicolay use his fathers papers; by
1875, they were engaged in research. Hay and Nicolay
enjoyed exclusive access to Lincolns papers, which were
not opened to other researchers until 1947. They gath-
ered documents written by others, as well as many of the
Civil War books already being published. They at rare
times relied on memory, such as Nicolays recollection
of the moment at the 1860 Republican convention when
Lincoln was nominated, but for much of the rest relied
on research.
[218]
Hay began his part of the writing in 1876;
[219]
the work
was interrupted by illnesses of Hay, Nicolay, or fam-
ily members,
[218]
or by Hays writing of The Bread-
Winners.
[219]
By 1885, Hay had completed the chapters
on Lincolns early life,
[220]
and they were submitted to
Robert Lincoln for approval.
[221]
Sale of the serialization
rights to The Century magazine, edited by Hays friend
Richard Gilder, helped give the pair the impetus to bring
what had become a massive project to an end.
[222]
The published work, Abraham Lincoln: A History, al-
ternates parts in which Lincoln is at center with dis-
cussions of contextual matters, such as legislative events
or battles.
[223]
The rst serial installment, published in
November 1886, received positive reviews.
[224]
When the
ten-volume set emerged in 1890, it was not sold in book-
stores, but instead door-to-door, then a common practice.
Despite a price of $50, and the fact that a good part of
the work had been serialized, ve thousand copies were
quickly sold.
[225]
The books helped forge the modern
view of Lincoln as great war leader, against other com-
peting narratives that gave more credit to subordinates
such as Seward. According to historian Joshua Zeitz, it
is easy to forget how widely underrated Lincoln the pres-
ident and Lincoln the man were at the time of his death
and how successful Hay and Nicolay were in elevating his
place in the nations collective historical memory.
[218]
8 Assessment and legacy
Hay in portrait by John Singer Sargent
In 1902, Hay wrote that when he died, I shall not be
much missed except by my wife.
[226]
Nevertheless, due
to his premature death at age 66, he was survived by most
of his friends.
[227]
These included Adams, who although
he blamed the pressures of Hays oce, where he was
badgered by Roosevelt and many senators, for the Secre-
tary of States death, admitted that Hay had remained in
the position because he feared being bored. He memori-
alized his friend in the nal pages of his autobiography,
The Education of Henry Adams: with Hays death, his
own education had ended.
[228]
Gale pointed out that Hay accomplished a great deal in
the realm of international statesmanship, and the world
may be a better place because of his eorts as secretary of
state ... the man was a scintillating ambassador.
[229]
Yet,
Gale felt, any assessment of Hay must include negatives
17
as well, that after his marriage to the wealthy Clara Stone,
Hay allowed his deep-seated love of ease triumph over
his Middle Western devotion to work and a fair shake for
all.
[229]
Despite his literary accomplishments, Hay was
often lazy. His rst poetry was his best.
[229]
Taliaferro suggests that if Hay put any ... indelible stamp
on history, perhaps it was that he demonstrated how the
United States ought to comport itself. He, not Roosevelt,
was the adult in charge when the nation and the State De-
partment attained global maturity.
[230]
He quotes John
St. Loe Strachey, All that the world saw was a great
gentleman and a great statesman doing his work for the
State and for the President with perfect taste, perfect good
sense, and perfect good humour.
[230]
Posthumous bust of John Hay (191517), by J. Massey Rhind,
inside the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
Hays eorts to shape Lincolns image increased his own
prominence and reputation in making his association (and
that of Nicolay) with the assassinated president ever more
remarkable and noteworthy. According to Zeitz, the
greater Lincoln grew in death, the greater they grew for
having known him so well, and so intimately, in life. Ev-
eryone wanted to know them, if only to ask what it had
been likewhat he had been like.
[231]
Their answer to
that, expressed in ten volumes of biography, Gale wrote,
has been incredibly inuential.
[229]
In 1974, Lincoln
scholar Roy P. Basler stated that later biographers such
as Carl Sandburg, did not ma[k]e revisions of the essen-
tial story told by N.[icolay] & H.[ay].
[232]
Zeitz concurs,
Americans today understand Abraham Lincoln much as
Nicolay and Hay hoped that they would.
[233]
Hay brought about more than 50 treaties, including the
Canal-related treaties,
[234]
and settlement of the Samoan
dispute, as a result of which the United States secured
Tutuila, with its harbor at Pago Pago.
[166]
In 1900, Hay
negotiated of a treaty with Denmark for the cession of
the Danish West Indies. That treaty failed in the Danish
parliament on a tied vote.
[235]
Brown Universitys John Hay Library is named for that
prominent alumnus.
[236]
Hays NewHampshire estate has
been conserved by various organizations.
[237][238]
According to historian Lewis L. Gould, in his account of
McKinleys presidency,
One of the most entertaining and interest-
ing letter writers who ever ran the State Depart-
ment, the witty, dapper, and bearded Hay left
behind an abundance of documentary evidence
on his public career. His name is indelibly
linked with that verity of the nations Asian pol-
icy, the Open Door, and he contributed much
to the resolution of the longstanding problems
with the British. Patient, discreet, and judi-
cious, Hay deserves to stand in the front rank
of secretaries of state.
[239]
9 Notes
[1] Illinois was then considered part of the Western United
States
[2] Hays oce is today known as the Queens Sitting Room;
the bedroom he shared with Nicolay is known as the
Queens Bedroom. See Zeitz 2014a, p. 87.
[3] According to Zeitz, $1,500. See Zeitz 2014a, p. 71.
[4] Hay was brevetted lieutenant colonel and colonel in May
1865. See Gale, p. 18.
[5] Cromwell Varley, Perdicariss stepson by his wifes rst
marriage to an Englishman, was also kidnapped. See
Woolman.
[6] Woolman, in his 1997 article on the incident, states that
Roosevelt was behind Cannons action. See Woolman.
10 References
[1] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 11.
18 10 REFERENCES
[2] Thayer I, pp. 34.
[3] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 1516.
[4] Thayer I, p. 8.
[5] Taliaferro, pp. 2022.
[6] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 1618.
[7] Stevenson & Stevenson, p. 19.
[8] Stevenson & Stevenson, p. 20.
[9] Taliaferro, pp. 2223.
[10] Thayer I, pp. 2122.
[11] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 1921.
[12] Taliaferro, p. 27.
[13] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 23.
[14] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 2324.
[15] Kushner, p. 366.
[16] Kushner, pp. 36667.
[17] Taliaferro, p. 30.
[18] Taliaferro, p. 31.
[19] Zeitz 2014a, p. 56.
[20] Taliaferro, pp. 3035.
[21] Thayer I, p. 87.
[22] Kushner, p. 367.
[23] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 28.
[24] Taliaferro, p. 37.
[25] Zeitz 2014a, p. 71.
[26] Thayer I, p. 88.
[27] Taliaferro, p. 39.
[28] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 8788.
[29] Taliaferro, p. 43.
[30] Zeitz 2014a, p. 92.
[31] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 3132.
[32] Taliaferro, p. 47.
[33] Taliaferro, pp. 9495.
[34] Taliaferro, pp. 4546.
[35] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 10709.
[36] Taliaferro, pp. 5254.
[37] Gale, p. 18.
[38] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 9495.
[39] Thayer I, pp. 20306.
[40] Taliaferro, pp. 4849.
[41] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 3334.
[42] Taliaferro, pp. 7782.
[43] Thayer I, pp. 15556.
[44] Taliaferro, pp. 8689.
[45] Hay, John (1915 (1890)). The Life and Letters of John
Hay Volume 1 (quotes original source is Hays diary which
is quoted in Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume 10,
Page 292 by John G. Nicolay and John Hay). Houghton
Miin Company. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
[46] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 62.
[47] Taliaferro, pp. 105, 107.
[48] Taliaferro, p. 107.
[49] Thayer I, p. 222.
[50] Taliaferro, p. 109.
[51] Taliaferro, p. 111.
[52] Zeitz 2014a, p. 181.
[53] Taliaferro, pp. 11516.
[54] Thayer I, pp. 27880.
[55] Taliaferro, pp. 11518.
[56] Taliaferro, p. 119.
[57] Kushner, p. 370.
[58] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 18586.
[59] Kushner, pp. 37071.
[60] Taliaferro, pp. 12124.
[61] Taliaferro, pp. 12425.
[62] Kushner, p. 372.
[63] Taliaferro, pp. 13031.
[64] Taliaferro, pp. 13233.
[65] Zeitz 2014a, p. 194.
[66] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 19596.
[67] Taliaferro, p. 140.
[68] Taliaferro, p. 143.
[69] Taliaferro, pp. 15357.
[70] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 6768.
[71] Taliaferro, pp. 16366.
[72] Gale, p. 22.
[73] Zeitz 2014a, p. 205.
[74] Taliaferro, p. 167.
19
[75] Peet, p. 78.
[76] Taliaferro, pp. 17173.
[77] Taliaferro, pp. 17374.
[78] Kushner, pp. 37374.
[79] Zeitz 2014a, p. 206.
[80] Taliaferro, pp. 17981.
[81] Kushner, pp. 37475.
[82] Kushner, pp. 37576.
[83] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 20607.
[84] Kushner, p. 377.
[85] Ackerman, pp. 20506.
[86] Kushner, pp. 37778.
[87] Kushner, p. 378.
[88] Zeitz 2014a, p. 212.
[89] Gale, p. 14.
[90] Friedlaender, p. 137.
[91] Kushner, p. 379.
[92] Friedlaender, p. 140.
[93] Friedlaender, pp. 14445.
[94] Friedlaender, p. 154.
[95] Zeitz 2014a, p. 211.
[96] Gale, pp. 2829.
[97] Kushner, pp. 37879.
[98] Kushner, pp. 38182.
[99] Taliaferro, p. 258.
[100] Taliaferro, p. 282.
[101] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 7880.
[102] Taliaferro, pp. 29496.
[103] Taliaferro, pp. 29798.
[104] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 8182.
[105] Taliaferro, pp. 30001.
[106] Taliaferro, pp. 30506.
[107] Taliaferro, p. 307.
[108] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 83.
[109] Taliaferro, pp. 30711.
[110] Zeitz 2014a, p. 323.
[111] Taliaferro, p. 310.
[112] Taliaferro, pp. 31013.
[113] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 8384.
[114] Taliaferro, p. 314.
[115] Taliaferro, p. 315.
[116] Taliaferro, pp. 31617.
[117] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 86.
[118] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 99100.
[119] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 8890.
[120] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 9093.
[121] Taliaferro, pp. 32223.
[122] Taliaferro, pp. 32328.
[123] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 9798.
[124] Zeitz 2014a, p. 329.
[125] Taliaferro, p. 330.
[126] Zeitz 2014a, p. 324.
[127] Taliaferro, pp. 33132.
[128] Gould, p. 129.
[129] Taliaferro, pp. 33335.
[130] Taliaferro, pp. 33536.
[131] Gale, p. 31.
[132] Taliaferro, pp. 34147.
[133] Taliaferro, pp. 35354.
[134] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 9697.
[135] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 105.
[136] Taliaferro, pp. 35356.
[137] Taliaferro, pp. 349, 356.
[138] Taliaferro, p. 356.
[139] Taliaferro, pp. 35657.
[140] Taliaferro, p. 359.
[141] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 108.
[142] Taliaferro, pp. 35960.
[143] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 10910.
[144] Taliaferro, p. 363.
[145] Taliaferro, pp. 37576.
[146] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 11012.
[147] Taliaferro, pp. 37784.
[148] Taliaferro, pp. 37479.
[149] Taliaferro, pp. 39799.
[150] Thayer II, p. 262.
20 10 REFERENCES
[151] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 124.
[152] Taliaferro, pp. 40607.
[153] Leech, p. 599.
[154] Taliaferro, p. 407.
[155] Taliaferro, pp. 407, 410.
[156] Taliaferro, p. 337.
[157] Thayer II, p. 266.
[158] Taliaferro, pp. 40910.
[159] Thayer II, p. 268.
[160] Zeitz 2014a, p. 332.
[161] Taliaferro, pp. 411, 413.
[162] Taliaferro, pp. 19091.
[163] Taliaferro, p. 344.
[164] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 11617.
[165] Taliaferro, pp. 34548.
[166] Taliaferro, p. 352.
[167] Taliaferro, pp. 36670.
[168] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 121.
[169] Taliaferro, p. 392.
[170] Taliaferro, pp. 41112.
[171] Taliaferro, p. 425.
[172] Gale, p. 37.
[173] Taliaferro, p. 442.
[174] Gale, p. 38.
[175] Taliaferro, p. 478.
[176] Taliaferro, pp. 478503.
[177] Thayer II, p. 324.
[178] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 12627.
[179] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 33233.
[180] Zeitz 2014a, p. 335.
[181] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 127.
[182] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 12829.
[183] Taliaferro, pp. 51014.
[184] Woolman.
[185] Taliaferro, pp. 51415.
[186] Taliaferro, pp. 52223.
[187] Gale, p. 36.
[188] Taliaferro, pp. 52328.
[189] Taliaferro, pp. 53334.
[190] Thayer II, p. 400.
[191] Taliaferro, p. 538.
[192] Thayer II, p. 401.
[193] Taliaferro, pp. 53839.
[194] Taliaferro, p. 539.
[195] Taliaferro, pp. 53941.
[196] Taliaferro, pp. 54144.
[197] Gale, p. 54.
[198] Kushner & Sherrill, pp. 4546.
[199] Gale, p. 60.
[200] Gale, p. 61.
[201] Gale, pp. 6061.
[202] Howells, p. 348.
[203] Gale, pp. 6879.
[204] Gale, p. 80.
[205] Stevenson & Stevenson, p. 23.
[206] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 49.
[207] Gale, pp. 5455.
[208] Gale, p. 55.
[209] Kushner & Sherrill, p. 50.
[210] Gale, pp. 5556.
[211] Gale, p. 87.
[212] Jaher, p. 71.
[213] Dalrymple, p. 134.
[214] Gale, pp. 8791.
[215] Jaher, pp. 8687.
[216] Jaher, p. 73.
[217] Sloane, p. 276.
[218] Zeitz 2014b.
[219] Gale, p. 95.
[220] Taliaferro, p. 235.
[221] Zeitz 2014a, p. 256.
[222] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 26667.
[223] Gale, p. 99.
[224] Taliaferro, p. 250.
[225] Taliaferro, pp. 26162.
[226] Gale, p. 40.
21
[227] Gale, p. 41.
[228] Gale, p. 42.
[229] Gale, p. 125.
[230] Taliaferro, p. 548.
[231] Zeitz 2014a, p. 3.
[232] Zeitz 2014a, pp. 33839.
[233] Zeitz 2014a, p. 6.
[234] John Hay. National Park Service. Retrieved July 17,
2014.
[235] Purchase of the United States Virgin Islands, 1917.
United States Department of State. Retrieved July 29,
2014.
[236] Mitchell, Martha. John Hay Library. Brown University.
Retrieved July 17, 2014.
[237] United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 4, 2013 About
the Refuge. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
[238] Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
John Hay Land Studies Center. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
[239] Gould, p. 130.
11 Bibliography
Books
Ackerman, Kenneth D. (2011). Dark Horse: The
Surprise Election and Political Murder of President
James A. Gareld (Kindle ed.). Falls Church, VA:
Viral History Press, LLC. ISBN 978-1-61945-011-
0.
Gale, Robert L. (1978). John Hay. Twaynes Amer-
ican Authors. Boston: Twayne Publishers. ISBN
0-8057-7199-9.
Gould, Lewis L. (1980). The Presidency of William
McKinley. American Presidency. Lawrence,
Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-
7006-0206-3.
Kushner, Howard I.; Sherrill, Anne Hummel
(1977). John Milton Hay: The Union of Poetry and
Politics. Twaynes World Leaders. Boston: Twayne
Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7719-9.
Leech, Margaret (1959). In the Days of McKinley.
New York: Harper and Brothers. OCLC 456809.
Peet, Stephen Denison (1877). The Ashtabula Dis-
aster. J.S. Goodman and Louis Lloyd & Co. LCCN
06028953. OL 7222137M. Retrieved October 7,
2014.
Taliaferro, John (2013). All the Great Prizes: The
Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt (Kindle
ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-
4165-9741-4.
Thayer, William Roscoe (1915). The Life and Let-
ters of John Hay I. Boston: Houghton Miin Com-
pany. OCLC 445576.
Thayer, William Roscoe (1915). The Life and Let-
ters of John Hay II. Boston: Houghton Miin Com-
pany. OCLC 445576.
Zeitz, Joshua (2014). Lincolns Boys: John Hay,
John Nicolay, and the War for Lincolns Image (Kin-
dle ed.). New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN 978-1-
101-63807-1.
Journals and other sources
Dalrymple, Scott (Fall 1999). John Hays Revenge:
Anti-Labor novels, 18801905. Business and Eco-
nomic History 28 (1): 13342.
Friedlaender, Marc (1969). Henry Hobson
Richardson, Henry Adams, and John Hay.
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, Third Series 81: 13766. JSTOR
25080672.(subscription required)
Howells, William Dean (September 1905). John
Hay in Literature. The North American Review181
(586): 34351. JSTOR 25105451.(subscription re-
quired)
Jaher, Frederic Cople (Spring 1972). Industrial-
ism and the American Aristocrat: A Social Study of
John Hay and His Novel, the Bread-Winners. Jour-
nal of the Illinois State Historical Society 65 (1): 69
93. JSTOR 40190942.(subscription required)
Kushner, Howard I. (September 1974). extquot-
edbl'The Strong God Circumstance': The Politi-
cal Career of John Hay. Journal of the Illinois
State Historical Society 67 (4): 35284. JSTOR
40191317.(subscription required)
Sloane, David E. E. (Fall 1969). John Hays The
Bread-Winners as Literary Realism. American Lit-
erary Realism, 1870-1910 2 (3): 27679. JSTOR
27747664.(subscription required)
Stevenson Jr., James D.; Stevenson, Randehl K.
(SpringSummer 2006). John Milton Hays Lit-
erary Inuence. Journal of the Illinois State
Historical Society 99 (1): 1927. JSTOR
40193908.(subscription required)
Woolman, David (October 1997). Did Theodore
Roosevelt Overreact When an American was Kid-
napped in Morocco? Were Seven Warships Really
Necessary? extquotedbl. Military History 14 (4).
22 13 EXTERNAL LINKS
Zeitz, Joshua (February 2014). Lincolns Boys:
John Hay, John Nicolay and the War For Lincolns
Image. Smithsonian 44 (10).
12 Further reading
Warren Zimmermann, First Great Triumph: How
Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power
(New York, 2002)
13 External links
Works by John Hay at Project Gutenberg
John Hay Biography
John Hay, Abraham Lincolns friend
John Hay. Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
John Hay Land Studies Center
John Hay National Wildlife Refuge
The Fells Reservation
23
14 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
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