John Hay

Born in Indiana in 1838 and raised in Illinois, John Hay built an unusually varied career as a writer, journalist, statesman, and diplomat. He is often remembered first as one of Abraham Lincoln’s private secretaries, a role that gave him a front-row seat to the Civil War and helped shape his later writing about Lincoln and the era.

After the war, Hay continued in public service and diplomacy, while also publishing poetry, essays, and fiction. He served in important diplomatic posts and eventually became U.S. secretary of state under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, where he played a major part in American foreign policy.

For readers, Hay is especially interesting because he bridged politics and literature so naturally. He wrote with the eye of an insider and the style of a practiced author, making his work valuable not only as history, but also as a vivid personal record of a transforming period in American life.