Hay, John 1838–1905

(John Milton Hay)

PERSONAL: Born October 8, 1838, in Salem, IN; died July 1, 1905; married Clara Louise Stone, 1874. Education: Brown University, B.A., 1858; studied law in the office of Milton Hay, Springfield, IL.

CAREER: Writer. Secretary to Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Diplomatic Service Legation in Paris, Secretary, 1865–67; Vienna, Charge d'Affaires, 1867–68; Legation in Madrid, Secretary, 1868–70; New York Tribune, New York, NY, member of staff, 1870–75, editor, 1881; First Assistant Secretary of State, 1879–81; Ambassador to Great Britain, 1897–98; U.S. Secretary of State, 1898–1905. Military service: Colonel in Union forces, Civil War.

MEMBER: American Academy of Arts and Letters (member, 1904).

AWARDS, HONORS: LL.D. from Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Yale University, and Harvard University.

WRITINGS:

Jim Bludso of the Prairie Belle and Little Breeches, Osgood (Boston, MA), 1871.

Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces, Osgood (Boston, MA), 1871, published as Little Breeches, and Other Pieces Humourous, Descriptive, and Pathetic, Hotten (London, England), 1871.

Castilian Days, Osgood (Boston, MA), 1871, John Lane (London, England), 1897, revised edition, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1890, abridged edition, 1903, fifth revised edition, Scholarly Press (St. Clair Shores, MI), 1970.

The Bread-Winners: A Social Study, Warne (London, England), 1883, Harper (New, NY), 1884, revised edition, edited by Charles Vandersee, College & University Press (New Haven, CT), 1973.

Dr. Charles Hay: Born February 7, 1801. Died September 18, 1884, De Vinne (New York, NY), 1884.

Amasa Stone: Born April 27, 1818 Died May 11, 1883, De Vinne (New York, NY), 1886.

Poems by John Hay, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1890.

(With John G. Nicolay) Abraham Lincoln: A History, 10 volumes, Century (New York, NY), 1890, abridged and edited by Paul M. Angle, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1966.

(Editor, with John G. Nicolay) Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works: Comprising His Speeches, State Papers, and Miscellaneous Writings, 2 volumes, Century (New York, NY), 1894.

Addresses, Century (New York, NY), 1906, published as Addresses of John Hay, Books for Libraries Press (Freeport, NY), 1970.

A Poet in Exile: Early Letters of John Hay, Edited by Caroline Ticknor, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1910.

(With Elihu Root) Instructions to the American Delegates to the Hague Conferences, 1899 and 1907, World Peace Foundation (Boston, MA), 1913.

The Complete Poetical Works … Including Many Poems Now First Collected, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1916.

A College Friendship: A Series of Letters from John Hay to Hannah Angell, privately printed (Boston, MA), 1938.

Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay: Selected and with an Introduction by Tyler Dennett, Dodd, Mead & Co. (New York, NY), 1939.

Letters from John Hay and Extracts from a Diary, 3 volumes, Gordian Press (New York, NY), 1969.

The Blood Seedling and Other Tales: The Uncollected Fiction of John Hay, edited by George Monteiro, Cut Flower Press (Providence, RI), 1972.

John Hay—Howells Letters: The Correspondence of John Milton Hay and William Dean Howells, edited by George Monteiro and Brenda Murphy, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1980.

Inside the Lincoln White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay, edited by Michael Burlingame and John R. Turner Ettlinger, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 1997.

Lincoln's Journalist: John Hay's Anonymous Writings for the Press, 1860–1864, edited by Michael Burlingame, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 1998.

At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings, edited by Michael Burlingame, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 2000.

An Idler: John Hay's Social and Aesthetic Commentaries for the Press during the Civil War, edited by Douglas Warren Hill, Academia Press (Bethesda, MD), 2006.

Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John G. Nicolay and John Hay, edited by Michael Burlingame, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS: John Hay enjoyed a prestigious career both as a diplomat and a writer. He held the top foreign relations post in two U.S. presidential administrations; held several diplomatic posts overseas, including that of ambassador; and still managed to produce works of poetry and prose that endure in popularity.

After his graduation from Brown University, Hay lived in Warsaw, Illinois, and began to try his hand at poetry. A collection of his letters and poems from that period in his life was published as the book Poet in Exile in 1910. These early writings revealed Hay's sense of ambition and foreshadowed the significant gifts which he was to later develop. A reviewer in the New York Times commented, "There is quite as much psychological as personal interest in the half dozen letters and poems. The letters, which are wholly personal in character, are of interest mainly because of the light they throw upon one stage of the development of a man of many gifts, whose endowments were to bring him to high distinction."

Hay achieved fame in the literary world with his book of essays on Spain, Castilian Days. Less well-remembered are his essays and stories that appeared in the Atlantic, Harper's, and Putnam's. However, these continue to be read for their prescience in addressing many of the themes that later interested the American realists. In his short fiction Hay gave special attention to the adventures of Americans in Paris, the responsibilities of Union loyalists during the Civil War, and the violent bitterness of Midwestern American farmers.

In his story "The Blood Seedling," Hay gave an account of the Golyer family, which reappears in his volume of poetry, Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces, published in 1871. Hay earned immediate popularity with the first three Pike County ballads, "Banty Tim," "Jim Bludso, of the Prairie Belle," and "Little Breeches." Hay's expert use of the dialects of the American West led to speculation regarding whether he was the first to incorporate such dialects into his work, or whether he had been beaten to the task by his friend and fellow writer Bret Harte. Hay was long beset by concerns that the rhythmic speech he employed in his poetry was not in fact an appropriate subject for the medium.

Hay's tendency to take aim at prevailing notions of morality was not always recognized for what it was at the time, but for those who understood his message, his poetry often took on intense significance. In the poem "Jim Bludso, of the Prairie Belle," Hay depicted a man who practiced bigamy while simultaneously making sacrifices for Christianity. Hay suggested that a truly Christian God would not exact retribution against a man who, however flawed, was a devoted believer.

Other poems by Hay are more conventional, such as "A Triumph of Order," "Una," and "A Dream of Bric-a-Brac." But it is significant that when Hay became Ambassador to Great Britain, British publishers issued an edition of Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, passing over his more highly acclaimed books Castilian Days and Abraham Lincoln: A History.

Hay received praise for the 1916 publication of a volume that included previously unpublished poetry, Complete Poetical Works … Including Many Poems Now First Collected. A Dial reviewer noted: "These thirty-three examples of the statesman's mastery of a finer art than diplomacy are now incorporated in a handsome volume, limited in its edition, containing also the poems already familiar to the public."

Only after his death was Hay acknowledged as the author of The Bread-Winners, a novel with a strongly anti-labor perspective. Hay was prompted to write the book by the violent labor strikes that rocked the country in 1877. To Hay, the strikes symbolized the threat that societal changes posed to his own position as an entrenched member of the establishment. One of the most memorable features of The Bread-Winners is the character Hay created of Maud Matchin, an impetuous American teenager.

Hay's experiences serving as a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War, as well as his work as secretary in the Lincoln administration, are documented in Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay, published in 1939. The book provided valuable insight into Lincoln's actions during the war as well as on the man himself. Hay worked closely under Lincoln and had a unique vantage point from which to observe the politics of the early Reconstruction period. In his letters and diaries, Hay wrote frankly about the atmosphere in Washington during the war and the personalities involved. A Booksreviewer commented on Hay's close relationship with Lincoln: "For four years the young man was with the President all day and often half the night. Their relations were on a plane of the frankest informality…. If the book contains no great novelties it does offer an immense amount of colorful detail, amusing anecdote, and illuminating comment."

Hay's views as they developed during his years as a diplomat are collected in a volume of his addresses delivered during his years as secretary of state. He served under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. In Addresses, Hay shared his thoughts on the personalities and careers of William McKinley, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Walter Scott, Theodore Roosevelt, and Edmund Clarence Stedman. He also touched on topics such as international copyright, American diplomacy, the press, modern progress, and the American fondness for peace. A reviewer in the New York Times wrote: "Rich in suggestive thought, and at once scholarly and charming in style, [Hay's book] is a notable addition to the already large body of the literary remains of American statesmen." A reviewer for Outlook noted the book's patriotic qualities: "It is calculated to make every American reader prouder of our great secretary of state; it will also give to every foreign student of our affairs a higher opinion of the richest American character and attainment." Just a year before his death, Hay was recognized for his diverse accomplishments when he became one of the first seven people elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Hay continues to attract new readers. Michael Burlingame has edited several volumes of writings by Hay, including the 1998 Lincoln's Journalist: John Hay's Anonymous Writings for the Press, 1860–1864 and the year 2000 At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings. Reviewing the former title in Library Journal, Grant A. Frederickson noted that as an anonymous writer, Hay frequently features "people or incidents that are not discussed in most Civil War history texts." Readers are offered "Hay's personal and procedural communications" in At Lincoln's Side, according to Jason Emerson, writing in Civil War News. Emerson further noted that the book can "lend great insight into Lincoln, into Lincoln's family, [and] into life at the White House during the Civil War."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Adams, Oscar Fay, A Dictionary of American Authors, 5th edition, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1969.

Dole, Nathan Haskell, Forrest Morgan, and Caroline Ticknor, compilers, The Bibliophile Dictionary, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1966.

Hay, John, Castilian Days, Osgood (Boston, MA), 1871

Hay, John, A Poet in Exile: Early Letters of John Hay, Edited by Caroline Ticknor, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1910.

Hay, John, Letters from John Hay and Extracts from a Diary, 3 volumes, Gordian Press (New York, NY), 1969.

Reference Guide to American Literature, 3rd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1994.

Thayer, William Roscoe, The Life and Letters of John Hay, 2 volumes, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1915.

PERIODICALS

American Heritage, July, 1999, Michael Burlingame, "The Trouble with the Bixby Letter," p. 64.

Books, February 12, 1939, review of Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay: Selected and with an Introduction by Tyler Dennett.

Dial, December 14, 1916, review of Complete Poetical Works … Including Many Poems Now First Collected.

Library Journal, February 1, 1999, Grant A. Frederickson, review of Lincoln's Journalist: John Hay's Anonymous Writings for the Press, 1860–1864, p. 106

New York Times, December, 1906, review of Addresses; July 23, 1910, review of A Poet in Exile.

Outlook, December 1, 1906, review of Addresses.

Smithsonian, June, 1990, Patricia O'Toole, "What They All Had in Common Was Wit and Friendship," p. 132.

ONLINE

Civil War News, http://civilwarnews.com/ (September 22, 2006), Jason Emerson, review of At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings.

Mr. Lincoln's White House, http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/ (September 25, 2006), "John Hay (1838–1905)."

West Virginia University Web site, http://www.wvu.edu/ (September 25, 2006), "John Hay."