BIOGRAPHY John Hay Secretary of State,  Term of Appointment: 09/30/1898 to 07/01/1905

Travels

• Born in Salem, Indiana on October 8, 1838;
• Graduated from Brown University in 1858;
• Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1861;
• Private secretary to President Lincoln, 1861-1865;
• Secretary of Legation at Paris 1865-1867, Charge d'Affaires ad interim at Vienna, 1867-1868, and Secretary of Legation at Madrid, 1869-1870;
• Journalist with the New York Tribune, 1870-1875;
• Engaged successfully in the writing of verse and fiction;
• Married Clara Louise Stone in 1874;
• Assistant Secretary of State, 1879-1881;
• Made frequent trips to Europe, 1881-1896;
• Co-author with John G. Nicolay of Abraham Lincoln: A History (10 volumes, 1890);
• Ambassador to Great Britain 1897-1898;
• Secetary of State in President McKinley's Cabinet September 30 1898, continued in office under President Roosevelt, and served until his death;
• As Secretary of State, supported the "open door" policy in China, prevented the dissolution of the Chinese Empire in 1900, obtained settlement of the Alaska-Canada boundary controversy, acquired a clear title to Tutuila, and secured by treaty the right for the United States to construct and defend the Panama Canal;
• Died at his summer home at Newbury, New Hampshire, July 1, 1905.