John Hay John Milton Hay ( October 8 , 1838 – July 1 , 1905 ) was an American statesman , diplomat , author , journalist , and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln . Hay ' s highest office was serving as United States Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt . Early life . Hay was born in Salem , Indiana , of Scottish ancestry , the third son of Dr . Charles Hay and Helen Leonard from Middleborough , Massachusetts , who had come to Salem to live with her sister . He was raised in Warsaw , Illinois , and educated first at the private school of the Reverend Stephen Childs , an Episcopal clergyman . In 1851 John went to an academy at Pittsfield in Pike County , where he met an older student , John G . Nicolay , with whom he would later work as private secretary to Abraham Lincoln . In 1852 John Hay went to the college at Springfield , ( later known as Carthage College ) and in 1855 was sent to Brown University , where he joined Theta Delta Chi . At Brown , he developed an interest in poetry , and Hay became a part of Providence ' s literary circle which included Sarah Helen Whitman and Nora Perry . As a salutation to each issue of Benjamin Tucker ' s " Liberty " , these lines of poetry by Hay were printed : " For always in thine eyes , O Liberty ! / Shines that high light whereby the world is saved ; / And though thou slay us , we will trust in thee . " When he graduated , he was named Class Poet . He left Brown in 1858 before receiving his diploma and went home to Warsaw to study law with his uncle , Milton Hay . Lincoln ' s secretary . Abraham Lincoln ' s law office was next door to the law office of Milton Hay , John ' s uncle , and Lincoln thus became acquainted with John Hay . When Lincoln won election as president , his secretary , John G . Nicolay , recommended John Hay to Lincoln as assistant private secretary . Thus , at age 22 he began a lifelong career in government , except for a stint in journalism from 1870 – 78 . Though technically a clerk in the Interior Department , he served as Lincoln ' s secretary until 1864 . He lived in the northeast corner bedroom on the second floor of the White House , which he shared with his fellow secretary and Pittsfield Academy schoolmate , Nicolay . For a few months , he served in the Union Army under Generals David Hunter and Quincy Adams Gillmore . He rose to the rank of major and was later brevetted lieutenant colonel and colonel . Hay ' s diary and writings during the Civil War are basic historical sources . Some have credited Hay with being the real author of Lincoln ' s Letter to Mrs . Bixby , consoling her for the loss of her sons in the war . Hay was present when Lincoln died after being shot at Ford ' s Theatre . Hay and Nicolay wrote a formal 10 - volume biography of Lincoln ( " Abraham Lincoln : A History " , 1890 ) and prepared an edition of his collected works . Portions of Hay ' s diaries and letters from 1861 – 1870 , published in the book " Lincoln and the Civil War " , show Lincoln in a far more intimate light . Hay and Nicolay wrote a 10 - volume scholarly biography of Lincoln focused on his presidency . Legal career . In 1861 , he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Illinois . Diplomatic career . Between 1865 and 1870 , he was secretary of legation at Paris ( 1865 – 7 ) and Madrid ( 1867 – 8 ) , and chargé d ' affaires at Vienna ( 1868 – 70 ) . In 1878 he became assistant secretary of state in the Hayes administration . Hay was named U . S . ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1897 when William McKinley became President . Some of the recognition of the longstanding community of interests between that country and the United States was the result of Hay ' s stay there . Journalism career . In 1870 he left government and worked for 6 years as an editor for the " New York Tribune " under Whitelaw Reid . Secretary of State . In August 1898 , Hay was named by President McKinley as Secretary of State and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris of 1898 , which ended the Spanish – American War . He was involved in the Perdicaris incident . Hay continued serving as Secretary of State after Theodore Roosevelt succeeded McKinley , serving until his own death in 1905 . He established the Open Door policy in China . Legacy . His contributions included the adoption of an Open Door Policy in China ( announced on January 2 , 1900 ) and the preparations for the Panama Canal . He negotiated the Hay – Pauncefote Treaty ( 1901 ) , the Hay – Herrán Treaty ( 1903 ) , and the Hay – Bunau - Varilla Treaty ( 1903 ) , all of which were instrumental in clearing the way for the construction and use of the Canal . In all , he brought about more than 50 treaties , including the settlement of the Samoan dispute , as a result of which the United States secured Tutuila , with a harbor in the $ 3 ; a definitive Alaskan boundary treaty in 1903 ; the negotiation of reciprocity treaties with Argentina , France , Germany , Cuba , and the British West Indies ; the negotiation of new treaties with Spain ; and the negotiation of a treaty with Denmark for the cession of the Danish West India Islands . In 1904 , Hay was one of the first seven chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters . Hay is also known for his comment , written in a letter to President Theodore Roosevelt , describing the Spanish – American War as a " splendid little war " . Hay appears as a prominent character in Gore Vidal ' s historical novels " Lincoln " and " Empire " and in William Safire ' s historical novel " Freedom " . He appears , portrayed by John Huston , in the 1975 film " The Wind and the Lion , " a fictionalization of the Perdicaris Affair in Morocco in 1904 . Steven Culp portrayed John ( " Johnny " ) Hay in the 1988 miniseries " Lincoln " , based on Vidal ' s book . He is portrayed in the 1997 miniseries " Rough Riders " by actor and retired United States Marine R . Lee Ermey . In the 2012 motion picture " Lincoln " he is played by actor Joseph Cross and is seemingly still Lincoln ' s assistant secretary despite the events of the film taking place entirely in 1865 ( Hay held the position until 1864 ) , although his position is never overtly stated . After Roosevelt signed an executive order setting aside land in the Benguet region of the Philippines for a military reservation under the United States Army , Camp John Hay of Baguio City was established on October 25 , 1903 and named in his honor . It was re - designated John Hay Air Base in 1955 . The base was used for rest and recreation for U . S . military personnel and the dependants of U . S . military personnel in the Philippines as well as Department of Defense employees and their dependents . The 690 - hectare property was finally turned over to the Philippines in 1991 upon the expiration of the Philippine - U . S . Bases Agreement . Since 1997 it has been in the hands of a private developer , on a long - term lease , which has transformed the property into a world class resort . The mountain resort still carries John Hay ' s name to this day . Hay was a close friend of Henry Brooks Adams , American historian and author . In 1884 , architect Henry Hobson Richardson designed adjoining townhouses for Hay and Adams on Lafayette Square in Washington , D . C . The houses were demolished in 1927 and the site is now occupied by the Hay – Adams Hotel . Brown University ' s John Hay Library housed the entire library collection from its construction in 1910 until the John D . Rockefeller , Jr . Library was built in 1964 . In 1971 , when physical science materials were transferred to the new Sciences Library , the John Hay Library became exclusively a repository for the library ' s Special Collections . Hay ' s New Hampshire estate has been conserved as part of the John Hay National Wildlife Refuge , the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests ' John Hay Land Studies Center , and The Garden Conservancy ' s Fells Reservation . The Fells , a local nonprofit organization that has maintained and managed the John Hay Estate on Lake Sunapee for over a decade , acquired the northern half of the property from the US Fish and Wildlife Service on March 25 , 2008 . Hay and Abraham Lincoln are depicted in a larger - than - life bronze sculpture by Mark Martino , entitled " A Learning Moment , " in the Sesquicentennial Plaza at Carthage College . Hay was an alumnus of the Illinois State University in Springfield ( previously Hillsboro College ) , which later became Carthage College when it moved to Carthage , Illinois in 1870 . Hay was a correspondent member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1900 until his death . In September 1901 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College , and the following month he was awarded an honorary doctorate ( LL . D . ) by Yale University , during celebrations for the bicentenary of the university . Personal life . Hay married Clara Stone , daughter of Amasa Stone of Cleveland , Ohio , an American industrialist who built railroads and invested in mills in Ohio . They are buried together in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland , Ohio . Their daughter Helen Julia Hay , a writer and poet , married Payne Whitney of the influential Whitney family ; their children were U . S . ambassador John Hay Whitney and Joan Whitney Payson . Hay and Hillary Rodham Clinton are the only future secretaries of state to have resided in the White House prior to becoming Secretary of State .