JOHN HAY
John Hay, of the District of Columbia, Secretary of State, was born in Salem, Ind., October 8, 1838; graduated at Brown University in 1858, and studied law in Springfield, Ill.; was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Illinois in 1861, but immediately came to Washington as assistant secretary to President Lincoln, remaining with him until his death; acted also as his adjutant and aid-de-camp, and served under Generals Hunter and Gillmore, and was brevetted colonel; was appointed secretary of legation to France March 22, 1865; retired March 18, 1867; appointed secretary of legation to Austria-Hungary May 20, 1867; retired August 12, 1868; appointed secretary of legation to Spain June 28, 1869; retired October 1, 1870; then became an editorial writer on the New York Tribune, remaining five years, during seven months of which he was editor-in-chief; removed to Cleveland in 1875 and took an active part in the Presidential canvasses of 1876, 1880, and 1884; was appointed Assistant Secretary of State November 1, 1879; retired May 3, 1881; in that year he represented the United States at the International Sanitary Congress in Washington, of which he was president; was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Great Britain March 19, 1897; retired September 19, 1898; appointed Secretary of State September 20, 1898.
