All the Great Prizes : The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt

by John Taliaferro

From secretary to Abraham Lincoln to secretary of state for Theodore Roosevelt, John Hay remained a major figure in American history for more than half a century. His private life was as glamorous and romantic as it was privileged. This first full-scale biography since 1934 is a reflection of American history from the Civil War to the emergence of the nation as a world power as Woodrow Wilson is about to take office.

Much of what we know about Lincoln’s years in the White House is drawn from the writings of the young John Hay, the president’s secretary, who was with Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address and at his bedside when he died.

Afterward, Hay successfully worked to elect fellow Ohioans James Garfield, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley for president. As McKinley’s Secretary of State, he plotted the nation’s emergence as a world power after the Spanish-American War. Hay arranged the annexation of the Philippines, the treaty for a canal across Panama, the Open Door policy for China.

After McKinley’s assassination, Theodore Roosevelt persuaded the aging Hay to stay on. The relationship between Hay and Roosevelt, which has not been explored, is of lasting interest. If Lincoln was a second father to Hay, Hay was a second father to TR—Roosevelt the bully wielder of the big stick; Hay the polished, urbane diplomat who walked softly, carried out TR’s policies, and helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hay is one of the most pivotal figures in American public life. But, as Taliaferro writes, that is only half the story. He knew everybody from Mark Twain to Henry James, and every president and world leader. He was best friends with Henry Adams, and the two were in love with the same married woman, Lizzie Cameron, the Madame X of Washington Society. Both wrote her voluminous letters.

All the Great Prizes chronicles a life that reflects the story of America from the devastation of the Civil War to its emergence as a world leader and power.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, Biography Memoir, Civil War

672 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2013

About the author

A graduate of Harvard College, John Taliaferro is a former senior editor at Newsweek.

Reviews

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taliaferro’s chronological biography blends three aspects of John Hay’s life. One is John Hay’s political life: Assistant Secretary to Lincoln, Ambassador to Great Britain, and Secretary of State to McKinley and Roosevelt. The second is John Hay’s literary life: Author of a ten volume biography of Lincoln, of a bestselling novel and popular poetry as well as an influential editorial writer for the New York Tribune. Hay knew all the literary figures of his time and was ranked among them by his peers. The third is Hay’s personal and social life. Marrying into a wealthy family he had the standing and personality to mix with the very best in Washington, New York and European society. Of special interest is his close relationship with Henry Adams and their mutual attraction to Lizzie Sherman Cameron. John Hay was a remarkably talented man. Through him we get a peek into the politics, statecraft, high society and literary world of the civil war period and the gilded age. Sections of the book may be too detailed for some readers such as descriptions of Hay’s negotiations as Secretary of State. Still there is so much in this biography that even if some parts are skimmed, there is much to enjoy. My notes follow.

In 1861 Hay was only 22 when he became one of two personal secretaries to President Lincoln. Yet Lincoln trusted him so much that he let Hay write and sign responses to his mail without ever looking at them. And Hay deserved that trust. Well educated in the classics at Brown, he also learned fluent German from an immigrant friend and passed the bar exam in Illinois although he never practiced. Bright but unmotivated, Hay was unsure what to do with himself. But when Lincoln, whose Illinois law office was next door, won the Republican nomination, a great opportunity fell into his lap. Hay wrote newspaper articles highlighting Lincoln’s speeches and events that resonated with voters. When Lincoln was elected he took that writing skill with him to Washington. The rest is the history of this extraordinary man.

At the White House, we get some interesting asides about the personal interaction of Hay with Lincoln and his family, including details about the death of Lincoln’s son and Mary Todd’s excesses. John George Nicolay, Lincoln’s primary secretary, and Hay were close and had been friends in Illinois. They called Lincoln the “Tycoon” and his wife Mary Todd, the “Hellcat”. Hay connected easily with those well above his station. He would play cards with Secretary of State Seward which paid off nicely when Mary Todd let it be known she wanted Hay and Nicolay gone at the end of the first term.

In 1865 Seward offered Hay a position as Secretary of Legation in Paris and the older Nicolay a position as Consul. The next several years Hay spent time in Paris, Vienna and Madrid serving minor roles in the diplomatic delegations. He became a fancy dresser, polished in dealing with dignitaries, and was able to discuss the latest topics in art and culture in fluent French, German or English. Hay made friends easily and was considered a ladies man. He took the time to travel Europe extensively and wrote articles for The Atlantic at the request of assistant editor William Dean Howells. Hay compiled some of these into his first book.

In 1870 Hay accepted a job as editorial writer for the New York Tribune. His focus naturally was foreign affairs. He also wrote widely popular poetry and even covered the Chicago Fire in 1871 as a reporter. He expanded his world of friends including big names in the literary world such as Mark Twain and Brett Harte. The Atlantic editor James Fields introduced Hay to his friends in Boston such as Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow and many more. Hay joined exclusive New York clubs becoming a celebrated figure in his own right.

In 1872 Hay, considered a “blade” in New York, met and fell in love with Clara Stone. While his love is portrayed as genuine, it should be noted Clara was neither outgoing nor particularly attractive but her father was incredibly rich. In 1874 they moved to Cleveland next door to Clara’s father who built them a luxurious house. Clara soon gave birth to two children. Hay’s duties working for Clara’s father were minimal so he contacted Nicolay about beginning work together on a biography of Lincoln. Nicolay did the research and Hay the writing, but health problems interrupted Hay’s work. He took a long vacation to Europe with his brother to revitalize his spirits in some of the elegant German spas.

In 1878 Hay and Clara visited Washington where Hay formed a close lifelong friendship with Henry Adams. Noted art collector William Corcoran had a beautiful house on H Street which Adams rented and his wife Clover held five O’clock tea. Hay stayed close to politics having actively supported President Hayes as he would future president Garfield. Both the current and future president visited Hay at his home in Cleveland and encouraged him to run for Congress. Instead he took a job as assistant secretary of state.

In 1879 Hay moved to Washington and became infatuated with the twenty year old stylish and captivating Lizzie Sherman. All the men sought out Lizzie but she decided to marry the wealthy 44 year old Senator Cameron who could give her the status she wanted. She was used to playing men like cards and felt this was a relationship she could control. Clara stayed behind in Cleveland where she gave birth to their third child.

In 1881 after Garfield took the presidency, Hay left the State Department to run the New York Tribune while its owner was in Europe. Garfield was assassinated by a supporter of the corrupt Roscoe Conkling who controlled New York. Hay used the Tribune to destroy Conkling and his control of New York politics. Hay then went to Europe with Clara mingling with society’s finest. Invited to dinner at James Russel Lowell’s house in London, he was seated between Henry James and Robert Browning. In England Hay was also able to spend time with another lifelong friend, American geologist and author Clarence King as well as the American author Constance Fenimore Woolson. In 1883 Hay’s own novel, The Bread Winners, sold more in its first year than his close friend Henry Adams’ Democracy or Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady which had been published a couple of years earlier.

In 1885 Hay wanted to spend more time in Washington to finish his biography of Lincoln with Nicolay. Century magazine paid a handsome sum for the serialization and book rights based just on the first chapters. Hay and Henry Adams purchased property together at the corner of H and 16th Streets directly across Lafayette Square from the White House where they each had a house built. Hay’s was huge. The houses would be torn down in 1927 to build the Hay-Adams Hotel which is still there. Sadly Adams’ wife Clover fell into depression and committed suicide before their house was finished. Adams was devastated.

In 1888 Hay supported the election of Benjamin Harrison as president. Hay would now meet Congressman William McKinley, McKinley’s political strategist Mark Hanna, and Congressman, later influential Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Hay would also see Lizzie, who was close friends with Adams, and another woman married to an older man, Nannie Lodge, wife of Henry Cabot Lodge. Lizzie, Nannie, Hay and Adams saw much of each other in 1889 and 90. Hay was infatuated with both woman, but Nannie and Hay became particularly close. It’s hard to know just how far things went, but Nannie destroyed all of Hay’s letters upon his death.

In 1891 Hay left solo for a trip to Europe. His affections quickly switched from Nannie to Lizzie who also went to Europe without her husband. Hay and Lizzie enjoyed Paris and London together. It’s doubtful things went too far and upon return to the US she distanced herself from Hay. Lizzie, a coquette, enjoyed enticing the men then acting disinterested and watching them beg for her attention. She played a similar game with Henry Adams who like Hay always came back for more. Throughout this episode Hay sent loving letters to Clara. Clara met him with their children at the dock in New York upon his return. In 1893 Hay took the family for a year in Europe. He was in Italy when Constance Woolson died there and he was able to attend her funeral, although her close friend Henry James wrote Hay that he could not make it from England. In 1894 Hay with his son Dell and Adams explored Yellowstone Park.

In 1896 Hay again got interested in politics and supported McKinley financially and became McKinley’s listening post in Washington where Hay was well connected. He was rewarded with the ambassadorship to England. Upon arrival at the dock Hay was greeted warmly by his friend Henry James. Hay used his own money to rent a sumptuous house. And he heard again from Lizzie, who was unhappily married and now depressed as her husband was retiring and wanted to return to Pennsylvania. Lizzie traveled to Paris and invited Hay to visit but he couldn’t leave England.

In 1897, Hay was in his element in London impressing everyone including Queen Victoria who invited Hay and Clara to dine and spend the night with her in Windsor Castle. Breaking convention Victoria had Hay sit next to her. After a second overnight visit to the Queen on the Isle of Wight, she invited Hay up to her apartment for a talk. She told her US minister that Hay was “the most interesting of all Ambassadors I have ever known.” Hay was able to get away to Egypt for a couple of months in the soggy London winter. Hay went with his family and Adams, cruising the Nile to Luxor. Hay invited Lizzie to be their Cleopatra but she declined.

In 1898 McKinley asked Hay to be Secretary of State following the US defeat of Spain. The Spanish American war engendered a new sense of American power and expansionism. Hay saw the turmoil he would walk into, but reluctantly accepted. He handled the job as he had the ambassadorship in a low key manner working his many contacts and avoiding confrontation. Working a full day with great responsibility and unable to take his frequent vacations even in Washington’s sticky summer, the strain showed. Adams would take daily walks with Hay after work and let him unload. When Clara left for their New Hampshire lake home in the summer, Hay of course wrote Lizzy to come to Washington. She declined and Hay was able to get away to New Hampshire in August.

From 1898 to 1900 Hay was consumed by China. The Western powers, Russia and Japan were taking pieces of China which was in real danger of being dismembered. Just having acquired the Philippines the US took ever more interest. Hay worked diligently to craft and gain approval from all the major powers of the Open Door Policy to stabilize the situation. The agreements were put to the test by the chaos created by the Boxer rebellion. Hay’s persistence and deft diplomacy held the agreements in place. His persistence also helped save the Peking legation which many had given up for dead. Hay was widely lauded in the US for all his work on China. Hay’s China policy and its execution were his greatest accomplishments as Secretary of State.

From 1900 to 1903 Hay worked to get American rights to build a canal across Central America. He also resolved a dicey situation when Germany threatened to take territory in Venezuela as well as a nagging Alaska boundary dispute. Hay crafted a treaty with Britain amending a prior treaty giving the US unchallenged authority to build the canal. Hay was not appreciated for what he achieved, but rather attacked for what he didn’t. The sticking point was allowing the US to fortify the canal, a popular demand that Britain took exception to. Hay took the intense Washington infighting so hard that he submitted his resignation which McKinley would not accept. Hay’s prior ebullient carefree personality was fast changing to one wracked with tension and worry and his health and sense of well-being deteriorated.

In 1901 McKinley began his second term and insisted Hay stay on. Then in September McKinley was assassinated, the third president assassinated that Hay knew well. This was soon after the death of his son Del in an accident, which Hay took very hard. Also Hay’s and Adams’ close friend Clarence King died and Hay increasingly felt his own time ticking away. Vice President Roosevelt took over and demanded Hay stay on. Hay had known Roosevelt’s father in New York and had called Jr. Teddy, then Theodore, and now Mr. President.

In 1902 Hay’s daughter Helen married one of Del’s good friends in an ostentatious wedding. Six hundred attended including President and Mrs. Roosevelt, most of the Cabinet and the Supreme Court and many senators, and diplomats. Like her dad Helen married well into the wealthy Whitney family with her new father-in-law gifting the couple with a 5th avenue mansion to be designed by famed architect Stanford White and a yacht. Middling gifts from others included items like a solid gold coffee service. Hay’s other daughter Alice decided her wedding would be a little more subdued yet still luxurious when she married another of Del’s Yale friends.

Hay took a measured careful and well thought out approach to foreign policy which would seem to put him at odds with the impulsive Rough Rider Roosevelt. Yet Roosevelt valued Hay’s competence, his connections and his manner. Only after Hay’s death did Roosevelt ever criticize Hay. He did so in two letters mixed with much praise to Cabot Lodge. Roosevelt wrote “I think he [Hay] was the most delightful man to talk to I ever met…He was moreover, I think without exception the best letter writer of his age...His dignity, his remarkable literary ability, his personal charm, and the respect his high character and long service commanded throughout the country together with his wide acquaintance with foreign statesmen and foreign capitals, made him one of the public servants of real value to the United States.” But Roosevelt went on disparaging Hay’s “easy loving nature” and “moral timidity” meaning Hay would “shrink from all that was rough in life, and therefore from practical affairs.”

In fact the two seem to have been a good combination and they got along well despite their different approaches. For example, Hay paved the way for the Panama Canal structuring an alternative that looked reasonable for Columbia with the Hay-Herron treaty which they rejected. Then he crafted the subsequent Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama. But in the end it was Roosevelt’s use of the navy supporting the Panama rebels that decided the outcome. Similarly when Germany threatened to establish itself in Venezuela Hay formulated a palatable arbitration agreement for Germany and Britain. But it was Roosevelt sending Admiral Dewey on naval exercises in the Caribbean that forced acceptance. Hay used his experience, contacts and diplomatic skill to offer adversaries a reasonable way out and Roosevelt made sure either they took it or lost out.

In 1905 Hay died of a lingering heart condition having served as Secretary of State for seven years. Hay was buried in Cleveland. His funeral attended by President Roosevelt, the Vice President, members of the cabinet, the Senate, the Congress and diplomatic community. Outside of his family, none mourned him more than his best friend Henry Adams. He wrote Clara “My last hold on the world is lost with him…He and I began life together. We will stop together.” However, Adams who was born in 1838 as was Hay went on until 1918.

Hay’s grandchildren by daughter Helen Hay Whitney would also make their mark. Joan Whitney Payson, two years old when Hay died, would become co-founder of the New York Mets baseball team and its majority owner. John Whitney Hay, not quite one year old when his father died, following in his father’s footsteps became the US ambassador to the UK under Dwight Eisenhower. Hay’s great grandfather also named John lived to ninety. Born before there was a United States, before the Declaration of Independence, he lived to see Hay employed as Lincoln’s secretary. Hay knew both John the great grandfather born in 1775 and the infant John the grandson who died in 1982, just like Hay’s career, a perspective that seems to compress time.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://thebestbiographies.com/2021/0...

Few figures in American history are more consequential, compelling and nearly forgotten than John Milton Hay (1838-1905). One of Abraham Lincoln’s two personal secretaries (and co-author of Lincoln’s most notable early biography), Hay was an American statesman, author and poet whose lengthy public career culminated with his service as Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.

With a 552-page narrative drawing heavily from Hay’s own letters and diaries, Taliaferro’s hefty biography is comprehensive, frequently interesting, occasionally titillating and sometimes exhausting. The author’s writing style often embeds colorful language (sometimes from Hay himself) but his narrative never quite settles into a natural rhythm.

Hay’s life included service to presidents Lincoln, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley and Roosevelt so he was often near the center of the American political scene. Taliaferro takes advantage of this proximity and rarely allows important historical context to go unnoticed. There are times, however, when the narrative dives so deeply into a policy topic (such as the Panama Canal) that this book feels more like a history text than biography.

The most fascinating aspect of this book involves Hay’s extramarital dalliances (literary liaisons) with two distinguished women of his time: Anna Cabot Mills Lodge and, with greater persistence, Lizzie Sherman Cameron. These relationships seem to have been limited to suggestive letters and poetry. But for fans of romantic complexity it is fortuitous that Hay’s most ardent interest – Cameron – was herself involved in a decades-long infatuation with his closest friend Henry Adams.

Other highlights of Taliaferro’s book are his observations relating to Teddy Roosevelt’s friendship with Henry Cabot Lodge, a nuanced exploration of TR’s relationship with Hay and a brief but masterful introduction to William McKinley. The final chapter dedicated to Hay’s death and legacy is quite good as well.

But as intriguing as the narrative can be, there is a persistent feeling that important components of Hay’s life are missing – pieces which could add texture and insight to his portrait. Given this author’s embrace of Hay’s letters and diaries, it seems safe to assume that any gaps are due to a scarcity of primary source material and not a lack of interest on Taliaferro’s part.

Still, as fascinating an individual as Hay proves to be, the reader never comes to really understand him or see the world through his eyes. This book provides a valuable glimpse into Hay’s persona, but the image conveyed to readers is frustratingly hazy. It is possible, of course, that time and distance have rendered Hay irretrievably opaque. But the job of a biographer is, in part, to immerse the reader in the subject’s world…and here the author comes up short.

Overall, John Taliaferro’s “All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay” performs an admirable service by underscoring Hay’s role in American foreign policy and by highlighting his complexity as a man of public accomplishment and of private failures. But, regrettably, most readers will find this book more history-from-afar than a colorful and penetrating biography.

Overall rating: 3½ stars

[Ted Lehmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a rare pleasure to spend a couple of weeks in the company of a man of such grace, charm, intelligence and accomplishment as John Hay. In a life of service stretching from servingas Lincoln's private secretary to Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of State, no man in U.S. history who has not held elective office has had such an impact on creating and maintaining our country as it is and as it would like to be. The present biographer, John Taliaferro, has written the first full biography of Hay since 1934. He provides a full, balanced and admiring picture of a great American. If today's Republicans studied history, the (mostly) men they'd meed in this half century would help them to understand what Republican means. Read my full review on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/chh9224 and then please consider buying it through the Amazon portal on my site to help support continued reviews.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Hay (1838-1905) spent his early life in Warsaw, Illinois a son of a doctor. He attended Brown University and study law in an uncle’s law office (with A. Lincoln) in Springfield Ill. He was adapt with languages and learned German, French, Latin and Greek. He helped on the 1860 campaign of Abraham Lincoln where he met John Nicolay. He and Nicolay became Lincoln private secretaries when he was elected President. He married Clara Stone daughter of the wealthy Ohio Industrialist. Hay’s served as undersecretary of state to Rutherford B. Hayes, he also served James A. Garfield. He became Ambassador to England for William McKinley and after a year his Secretary of State. He also served Theodore Roosevelt as Secretary of State. I found it interesting that 3 of the president Hay served were assassinated. During Hay’s career he was a journalist, writer, poet, businessman and politician. Between the highlights I have listed John Taliaferro packed a lot of information about Hay’s life and his career. I noted from the information provided by Taliaferro Hay played key roles in several area’s when he was Secretary of State, the open door policy about China, the role he played with the creation of Panama. When he was Ambassador to England he played a key role in developing positive relationship with England. Taliaferro provided great insight into John Hay the man but I feel he relied too much on Hay’s own papers and a few other manuscripts when writing about Hay’s the diplomat. It would have been great if he had obtained insight about Hay’s from foreign archival material to better portray his diplomatic role. Taliaferro attempted to provide an unbiased view of Hay revealing his faults as well as his virtues. The last biography of Hay was Tyler Dennett’s “John Hay: From Poetry to Politics” written eighty years ago. It was about time we had another look at this interesting man and the role he play during a critical time in our history. I read this as an audio book. Joe Barrett did a good job narrating the book. If you are interested in history this is a must read book.

[Steven Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think of individuals who have had a major impact on American history after the Civil War, but about whom little known is known, two names come to mind, Henry L. Stimson and John Milton Hay. Stimson served as Secretary of War under William Howard Taft and Franklin D. Roosevelt, in addition to being Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover. Luckily we have excellent biographies that cover Stimson’s career; Geoffrey Hodgson’s THE COLONEL: THE LIFE AND WARS OF HENRY L. STIMSON, David Schwitz’s HENRY L. STIMSON: THE FIRST WISE MAN, and the classic portrayal by Elting Morrison, TURMOIL AND TROUBLE. In the case of John Hay, until now, there has not been a major biography since 1934. The book I am referring to is ALL THE GREAT PRIZES by John Taliaferro who has presented an extraordinary narrative that bookends Hay’s career as one of Abraham Lincoln’s personal secretaries, his service under Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, and ending as Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt. Taliaferro’s work encompasses all aspects of Hay’s private life and career and is an exceptional book.

Hay’s intellectual development is explored in a very insightful manner through his relationship with Abraham Lincoln. The author notes that “through his own experience Hay came to know Lincoln. Through Lincoln he began to know himself.” (37) Taliaferro provides the usual storyline and explanations in describing the course of the Civil War. We see the issues with General George McClellan, through Hay’s eyes ; the rationale and passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as Lincoln’s travails with John C. Fremont, Salmon P. Chase and others. In exploring Hay’s relationship with Lincoln the author reaches the same conclusion as others that Hay became “if not a surrogate son, then a younger man who stirred a higher form of paternal nurturing that Lincoln, despite his best intentions, did not successfully bestow on either of his surviving children.” (54) Hay had observed Lincoln at his best and worst and developed into a sounding board to be trusted, employed in a number of sensitive missions throughout the Civil War. Lincoln became a role model for Hay that would last a lifetime and following Lincoln’s assassination, he would mourn him for the rest of his life.

Taliaferro does a nice job integrating Hay’s own personal descriptive prose employing his diaries, written works, and diplomatic papers throughout the book. In pursuing biography as a tool writers must be careful not to engage in hagiography. At times Taliaferro does present an overblown portrayal of his subject as he states that when Hay returned to the United States in September, 1870 there were few men in America “who could match his understanding of foreign affairs or for that matter, politics of any provenance.” (129) In discussing Hay’s relationships with Nannie Lodge, the wife of Henry Cabot Lodge, and Lizzie Cameron who was married to a senator from Pennsylvania, Taliaferro is very careful in presenting what appears to be at least one extra-marital affair and possibly two. There are other examples that some would find to be overly subjective, but to the author’s credit they are kept to minimum.

The author’s rendering of the relationship with Henry Adams, the famous historian, is one of the highlights of the book. In describing their relationship Taliaferro states “For reasons that no one but they fully understood, and not even they articulated, Adams was the person in whose company Hay felt most himself. And Adams, the more irascible and phlegmatic of the two, recognized in Hay an admirable peer who consented to put up with him just as he was.” (177) Since Hay was a rather conservative individual politically and socially, and Adams leaned toward a much more of liberal bent in an number of areas, viewing the history of this period through their relationship and writings is certainly a treat for the reader. Hay’s friendship with Adams and his wife Clover, his relationship with Clarence King, a noted geologist, and Hay’s wife Clara was encapsulated in their own “club” entitled the “Five of Hearts,” which is described in detail. Hay’s summer retreat at Lake Sunapee, named the Fells was built and developed as a place they could sojourn to and as a place to escape the heat and humidity of Washington, DC. I was surprised to learn as close as they were and how much they supported each other emotionally and financially in the case of King, they hardly met as a group, perhaps a half a dozen times. Since Patricia O’Toole has written a fascinating book entitled THE FIVE OF HEARTS I would have expected greater contact amongst the five.

Hay was truly a “Renaissance” individual. Apart from his diplomatic career Hay was a poet and a novelist whose works include THE BREAD-WINNERS, a book that lends insight into the author’s political views as it is a tract against socialism and labor unions. Other works written by Hay include PIKE COUNTY BALLADS, CASTILIAN DAYS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A BIOGRAPHY (10 Vols) co authored with John G. Nicolay, and a number of books of poetry. Hay also had a career as a newspaper editor at the New York Tribune as well as a writer who chronicled events from Europe. The one aspect of Hay’s life that Taliaferro could have explored further was Hay’s acquisition of wealth. Obviously a very rich man with homes on millionaires row in Cleveland, Lafayette Square in Washington, in addition to the Fells I felt that Hay’s marriage to Clara Stone, the daughter of Amasa Stone, a very wealthy industrialist should have been dealt with in greater detail. The reader is told that Hay was given certain gifts, was employed by his father-in-law, but then pursued a diplomatic career in the Hayes and Garfield administrations. Hay was a plutocrat in addition to being a man of letters and that could have been detailed further.

Taliaferro’s discussion of Hay’s tenure as Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt is well conceived. We see the supposed “soft hand of diplomacy” as practiced by Hay as opposed the more overt imperialist approach as employed by the likes of Henry Cabot Lodge and his good friend, Theodore Roosevelt. Negotiations dealing with the British are framed nicely, first from the perspective of Hay’s tenure as Ambassador to the Court of St. James and then at the State Department. Issues dealing with the Alaskan Boundary dispute, the Venezuelan Crisis, and early developments in building the Panama Canal are presented based on all the relevant primary and secondary sources. It shows a competent diplomat who knows how to achieve his goals. Once Theodore Roosevelt assumes the presidency following the assassination of McKinley Hay adapts well to a more “boisterous” executive who liked to “carry the big stick.” Surprisingly Hay worked well with the former Rough Rider and is able to guide American diplomacy resulting in the Open Door Policy, setting the building of the Panama Canal in motion, and navigating the minefield that was the Russo-Japanese War. It is interesting to note that the “egoistic” Roosevelt gave Hay a tremendous amount of credit while he lived, but once his Secretary of State passed away he pursued a revisionist approach to events that gave himself what seems to be 99% of the credit for all diplomatic accomplishments.

If I had two major suggestions I would ask the author to edit more carefully and avoid the practice of overstatement. There are a number of editing issues, i.e. stating that Roosevelt’s running mate in 1904 was Albert Beveridge, in fact it was Charles W. Fairbanks, which is repeated a few times. In his introduction the Taliaferro states that America’s China policy preserved the integrity of the “Middle Kingdom”. He goes on to restate this proposition later in the book by arguing that the Open Door Policy was responsible for maintaining China as a whole. Geographically that is true but economically the spheres of influence and unequal treaties between the European powers and China dating back to the First Opium War and the 1842 Treaty of Nanking did not end, in fact the Chinese economy was still under the thumb of foreign nations for decades after Hay’s policy was announced. This policy preserved American trade which it was designed to do, but territorial, political, and economic integrity is a myth. Another example of over statement was the author’s discussion of the Franco-Prussian War which he seems to blame totally on Louis Napoleon III. Though I agree that the French Emperor deserves some of the credit for the plight of his empire due to his own incompetence, the machinations of the future German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck is mostly responsible for the events of 1870-1.

Overall the book is a fine work of narrative history. Dealing with a subject who had such an important political and diplomatic career, was also friends with the likes of Mark Twain, Henry Adams, Rudyard Kipling, and William Dean Howells among so many others cannot be other than a fascinating read. The author spent years researching and writing ALL THE GREAT PRIZES and it is reflected in the final product. It is easy to forgive any blemishes one might find and I recommend to all who would like to explore a previously unknown historical character, as following the publication of this biography John Milton Hay’s reputation will soar, to do so.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful work, a classic biography of a virtually-forgotten figure from the past who played a major role in America's history, not only in politics, but also cultural life. It was actually a refreshing read, a biography written by an author who admires his subject, rather than the regretful political biographies of today, which are so politically-biased and designed to find the feet of clay on every public figure, regardless if there actually are feet of clay. No, this is a classic biography in every sense of the world ... Hay is a monumental figure, and has a biography to match his stature. A pity public servants like John Hay are a thing of the past.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

At age 22 Hay's remarkable journey serendipitously began. After earning his Brown University degree, while boarding with relatives and practicing law in Springfield, IL, he was recommended by a friend to go to Washington as a Secretary to the newly elected president. His qualifications seem to be his charm, writing skills, and availability. As his father before him (doctor, publisher and land speculator), John Hay came to have many careers.

Like the author (Acknowledgements, p. 553) I became interested in Hay upon realizing his presence at the bedside of two assassinated US presidents. He figures in biographies of artists, royals and philosophers. Most provocatively he features in the biography of geologist and mountaineer, Clarence King (Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line).

Author, John Taliaferro, brings it all to life, and what a life it was. Sandwiched in between two extraordinary periods of public service, Hay wrote, edited and (essentially) published a newspaper; married into a wealthy railroad family; had 4 children; traveled, entertained, dined with friends and notables; assisted in the family business; wrote poetry, and a block buster novel; and co-authored a 10 volume biography of Abraham Lincoln.

His first public service career included being Secretary to President Abraham Lincoln and posts in Paris, Madrid and Vienna under Secretary of State William Seward; His second included a brief Ambassadorship to the UK, and being Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and (TR) Roosevelt. Notable accomplishments are the Open Door policy for China, the treaty (treaties) that made the Panama Canal possible, the Alaska/Canada boundary dispute resolution and policies for the Philippines.

Through the life of John Hay, you live American history from Lincoln to (TR) Roosevelt. Due to Hay's career hiatus, you miss the messy parts such as Reconstruction and the Indian Wars. The Gilded Age is experienced through the life of one of its beneficiaries.

The second career shows the split in the Republican Party in which Hay is in the McKinley camp. Roosevelt is portrayed as Hay sees him: crass, lacking substance and attention grabbing.

Hay makes lifelong friendships. The bond with Henry Adams is particularly strong; the two build houses on adjoining lots. Hay writes provocative letters to their mutual friend, the wife of a PA Senator, Lizzy Cameron. There seems to be something behind his flowery 19th century prose. Lizzy's responses do not survive, but on p. 551, her appraisal of Hay is somewhat shocking. The friendship with Clarence King is truly amazing, and lasts beyond the grave.

John Taliaferro has put together an extraordinary work. It is a must read for both historians and history buffs with interest in this period and person.

[David Kinchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

John M. Hay, the man who coined the phrase "It has been a splendid little war" in an 1898 letter to Theodore Roosevelt summing up the just concluded Spanish-American War, has been granted a splendid big biography by John Taliaferro. "All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay from Lincoln to Roosevelt."


The "Splendid little war" turned out to be a Vietnam-like bog in the Philippines, but Hay was untouched by the irony. Taliaferro crafts a very readable examination of Hay (1838-1905), the product of rural Indiana and Illinois like his mentor Lincoln, who became a polished man of letters, undoubtedly the most literary of American secretaries of state. A graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Hay and John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's official private secretary, served the 16th president, sharing a room in the White House. They went on to write a popular 10-volume biography of Lincoln.

From unofficial secretary to Abraham Lincoln to secretary of state for William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, John Hay remained a major figure in American history for more than half a century. He married into great wealth when he wed Clara Stone, daughter of Amasa Stone of Cleveland, one of the richest men in the country, owner of steel mills, with investments in many other industries. It was a love match, Taliaferro writes, but in his heart Hay lusted after Elizabeth Sherman "Lizzie" Cameron, his neighbor in Lafayette Square area of Washington. Hay and his next door neighbor and best friend Henry Adams both had a thing for the beauteous Lizzie, the "Madame X" of D.C. The sumptuous houses designed by celebrity architect H.H. Richardson for Hay and Adams are long gone, demolished to make way for the Hay-Adams Hotel at 16th and H streets.

Hay’s peers dubbed him “a perfectly cut stone” and “the greatest prime minister this republic has ever known.” But for all his poise and polish, he had his secrets. His marriage to one of the wealthiest women in the country did not prevent him from his pursuit -- apparently unconsumated -- of Lizzie Cameron.

"All the Great Prizes" is first full-scale biography of Hay since 1934 and reminds us that much of what we know about Lincoln’s years in the White House is drawn from the writings of the young John Hay, who was with Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address and at his bedside when he died. Taliaferro writes that the famous "Bixby Letter" written in November 1864 to console Lydia Bixby of Boston, who lost five sons in the Civil War, was written by Hay not Lincoln. Taliaferro discusses the Bixby letter exhaustively on Pages 94-96: it turns out the real Lydia Bixby was a Southern sympathizer who lost two sons, not five!

A power broker who worked quietly, garnering little or no publicity, Hay successfully worked to elect fellow Ohioans James Garfield, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley for president. As McKinley’s Secretary of State, he plotted the nation’s emergence as a world power after the Spanish-American War. Hay arranged the annexation of the Philippines, the treaty for a canal across Panama, the Open Door policy for China.

After McKinley’s assassination, his vice president and successor Theodore Roosevelt persuaded the aging and increasingly ill Hay to stay on. Taliaferro shines in his examination of the relationship between Hay and Roosevelt: If Lincoln was a second father to Hay, Hay was a second father to Roosevelt the bully wielder of the big stick. Hay the polished, urbane diplomat who walked softly, carried out TR’s policies, and helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize. At a time when anti-Semitism was rampant, Hay spoke out against murderous pogroms of Jews in Russia.

John Hay was both witness and author of many of the most significant chapters in American history -- from the birth of the Republican Party, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War, to the prelude to the First World War. Much of what we know about Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt comes to us through the observations Hay made while private secretary to one and secretary of state to the other.


Hay’s friends are a Who’s Who of the era: Mark Twain, Horace Greeley, Henry Adams, Henry James, and virtually every president, sovereign, author, artist, power broker, and robber baron of the Gilded Age. As an ambassador and statesman, he guided many of the country’s major diplomatic initiatives at the turn of the twentieth century: the Open Door with China, the creation of the Panama Canal, the establishment of America as a world leader. It's obvious that we'll never again see the like of men like John Milton Hay in office in the U.S. His poetic side wouldn't fit our drably prosaic world.

I did spot one error by the author. In 1904, a year before his death, Hay delivered a speech at the Louisiana Purchase World's Fair in St. Louis. Taliaferro says that the Olympic Games held in conjunction with the fair were the first of the modern era. This is incorrect: The Athens games of 1896 were the first.

[David Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Hay is one of the most important individual to ever hold the office of Secretary of State. He spent a lifetime serving his nation. In All The Great Prizes John Taliaferro traces the life of this fascinating man. After finishing at Brown Hay went to work for his uncle’s law office in Springfield, Illinois. The office next door was occupied by Abraham Lincoln. Hay was hired as one of Lincoln’s secretary during the campaign. The other secretary, John Nicolay, was a friend from Hay’s teenage years.

After Lincoln’s election Hay and Nicolay accompanied Lincoln to Washington. They lived in the White House and served Lincoln until his death. Taliaferro gives a lot of time to this parr of Hay’s life. The stories about Lincoln are really great. Hay saw him as a person and so the intimate look at Lincoln was very moving. Taliaferro also mentions the troubles that the secretaries had with Mary Lincoln, who hated them both. Hay become friends with Robert Lincoln, the President’s oldest son, and they two of them were together when they were summoned to the dying president’s bedside.

Hay’s story continues after Lincoln’s He served as secretary to the legation in Paris for a year, then he was sent as a temporary head of the legation to Austria. While in Austria he saw the dangers inherent of crumbling empires bolstering themselves up with large armies.“The great calamity and danger of Europe today are those enormous armaments,” he observed. “No honest statesman can say that he sees in the present attitude of politics the necessity of war. No great Power is threatened.  .  .  . Why then is the awful waste of youth and treasure continued? I believe from no other motive than to sustain the waning prestige of Kings.” This would continue until it resulted in the First World War.

Taliaferro gives us a wonderful insight into the man. Hay was a gregarious person with an elitist personality. Among his friends were men such as Henry Adams and Henry James. Hay was an author of some note. He wrote a few novels and poems, not all good, but some were considered classics. Along with John Nicolay he published a ten volume biography of Abraham Lincoln. Hay’s personal life is quite interesting. He seemed to have several affairs of the heart, though they were unlikely consummated, with some intriguing women.

When it comes to the last decade of his life Taliaferro shows how Hay worked ceaselessly to avoid war. Hay’s nature was not aggressive but congenial. He preferred to work out deals that helped to keep the peace. Hay had spent the early days of his political career watching the Civil War and never wanted to see war on that scale again. We see the amazing work that Hay did for William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt.

All the Great Prizes is a well written book. I was amazed at how much information is contained in these pages, yet the writing is never dry. Hay was truly one of the greatest statesmen ever to serve the United States of America. Taliaferro has given us an excellent book on a fascinating subject. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book.

[Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Milton Hay (his middle name came from his Uncle Milton who had law offices next to Lincoln's in Springfield and is how Hay first met Lincoln during the election ear of 1860). I have more than a passing interest in John Hay (which is the name on my Georgia license plate) as I do a one man one act play on Lincoln's faith through the eyes and writings of John Hay. www.lincolntogo.net

I knew that John Hay went on to a very distinguished career spanning many decades after the Lincoln assassination.

He was an amazing man for sure. Having read a bit on him, I was aware of his having served several presidents in different capacities and his lofty position in American society. Oft times people like Hay are lost in the shadow of such men as Lincoln or Roosevelt or McKinley, both of who he served. Hay was involved in opening the door to China, and with the Panama Canal as well as being an ambassador for this country.

He was a contemporary and friends with such folks as Mark Twain, Horace Greely Henry Adams (see below on him), and the like.

I have read his diaries and knew that he was a ladies man while in the Executive Mansion and of special note to me was that he frequented Edisto Island, South Carolina to call on several of these ladies. We own property there with my brother and sister in law - so this caught my eye several years ago. He also visited some ladies in Beaufort. We know that Lincoln knew where Edisto Island was because he had to approve visits by Hay to that island while Lincoln was President.

Of note - and not surprising - is that Hay continued to be a ladies man after marrying a woman from Cleveland. Even though he was married, he pursued Lizzie Cameron (also married) who was in turn being wooed by Henry Adams.

Yes Hay was a colorful, vastly accomplished character with his own secrets.

[Ken Hunt · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Hay is one of my favorite historical figures, given his longstanding prominence over numerous US political generations. I was excited to travel on a thorough tour of his witnessing of and impact on world events from his time as Lincoln's secretary to being Teddy Roosevelt's Secretary of State along with his work with Garfield, McKinley.........friends Henry Adams, Henry James.....etc etc.....The part of the book that delivered to the level I had hoped included his efforts in securing the Panama Canal for the United State and navigating the opening of China to the world under Roosevelt. The rest left me wanting. Not detailed enough on the historical events, players, importance, his impact, reprecutions...etc.......and this book spent way way way too much time on his love letters to a manipulative female friend/socialite who he may or may not have had an affair with.

[Charles M.]

Pleasant surprise of a biograophy of a much-forgotten historical figure. John Hay (as in John Hay Library at Brown University) started his political career as a secretary/letter correspondent for Lincoln and ended as a very active Secty of State under Teddy Roosevelt. During the interim, Hay led a "full life", having been politically active under most presidencies, and a protege of Henry Adams, Henry Cabot Lodge and a Who's Who list of historical figures from late 1880s until his death during the end of the Roosevelt Administration. A very different perspective on American politics during the Gilded Age and into the 20th century!

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

To watch a nation mature from a province on the periphery of the world stage to a world power would make for compelling copy. To do so at the elbow of a discrete, self-deprecating, eloquent, gracious man like John Hay Who was one of the foremost actors in this transformation is a treat indeed.

As a US history student in high school, I remember looking at the portraits of the presidents and commenting that between Lincoln and Roosevelt, there seems to be a string of whiskered nonentities. The life portrayed in these pages, subtle in itself, is a more penetrating guide to the times between those two presidential giants. Simultaneous to observing the changes in the country and the differences in those two presidents, the reader gets to see a servant of the state progress from letter-opener for Lincoln, to a man trusted to be wordsmith for the same, to increasing levels of responsibility for different presidents, and ultimately as effective alter ego to Theodore Roosevelt's energy and boisterousness.

[Harry Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very well-written and highly detailed biography of one who moved among the elite during one of the nation's more 'yeasty' formative periods. It was a time when affairs were directed by men of wealth (not so much different from today, that!) Many of these men were venial, overly ambitious, vain, bullying rascals striving to shape events to their advantage. It was also a time when the term 'gentleman' carried substantial weight and one who aspired to it was expected to behave in a mannerly and civil fashion. Hay is portrayed as belonging to a circle of the latter sort, having little or no truck with the former. Hay's accomplishments were substantial and varied, but were narrated with an adulatory slant that created a sense of nagging doubt as to whether the performer was real person.

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book through a ten-best biography review. Undoubtedly, John Hay lived a full and incredible life in which he consistently had a front seat to history. Yet to me, it was shocking how boring of a person he seemed to be. I had a lot of trouble getting into his inner life, which seemed to go no further than getting rich and flirting with his friends' wives. For someone who reached such heights, it all just seemed really pedestrian.

[Washington Post · Rating 2 out of 5]

The nation’s capital is always full of hot air, of course, but every July it grows downright unbearable. According to our Weather Gang, the past three summers here were the three hottest on record. But at least we’ve got air conditioning. Consider what sweaty politicians endured in the 19th century. Read the review: http://wapo.st/16V00lf

[Frank Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man from a time long gone by. Poet, essayist, diplomat. A window of what Washington once was like and, as you see in the book, still is. The research done for this book is extraordinary and Taliaferro is a superb writer.

[Micah Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Hay was an important man, an impressive man, a brilliant man, but he lacked the goodness to be a great man.

Hay began as Lincoln's private secretary. Alongside John Nicolay, he became a surrogate son of Lincoln. Few knew Lincoln better than Hay.

But for all that, Hay, in my view, failed to live up to the Lincoln legacy. While Hay had an illustrious career, culminating with his tenure as Secretary of State, he embodied the Republican party's transition from the party of Reconstruction to the party of the Gilded Age and American Imperialism. He never attained the moral stature of Lincoln.

Furthermore, the emotional affairs he carried on demonstrate the clear contrast between Lincoln and Hay as men.

[Tory Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This opus on the life of John Hay was both comprehensive and interesting. It may have needed a little editing, but is very readable.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost a five star. This was an engaging book about a fascinating man who at one time was one of the most powerful and important figures in American History. John Hay served the government in various roles from private secretary to Abraham Lincoln, to Secretary of State for Wm. McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. He also served in the administration of James Garfield, so he worked for the first 3 presidents assassinated in office. While Secretary of State to Roosevelt, there was no Vice President, so he essentially filled that capacity as well. He was next in line. Along the way he also found time to write poetry, fiction, serve as a newspaper editor and writer, served in several foreign consulates throughout Europe, including a stint as Ambassador to Great Britain. The scope of his life would be considered wide-spread even now. During the time he lived, it was almost unheard of.

But, more than the politics, I found the narrative describing the time that Hay lived in fascinating. He came of age during a period of great upheaval and chaos, yet he spent most of his adulthood among the upper class, moving in circles that remained constant to tradition and resistive to change. He followed the norm for his class and married for money and position yet he and his wife seemed to genuinely care for each other. He very much cared for his position in society, yet his closest friends were either snidely critical of society or secretly flaunted its tenets. And he lived through several scandals that might have brought others down. The writer does a good job of moving between the distinctions in his life, allowing us to see Hay change and grow gradually through the years.

Hay knew essentially everyone worth knowing during the last half of the 19th century and seemed to maintain good relationships with them all. The author spends quite a bit of time addressing his relationship with Henry Adams, and after this book, I am now willing to try and retackle The Education of Henry Adams.

His experiences and adventures through the Civil War were told in an engaging and easily readable fashion. The details of the crisis he dealt with during his years as Secretary of State were a little harder to get through. The writing seemed to slow down and become heavier, as Hay aged.

My only complaint had to do with the discussion of her personal life. I understand that this is a serious biography and the focus is not on his personal life. And it is difficult to prove the accuracy of personal stories relayed 100 years later. But the author skimmed over his adult relationships so fleetingly, that what was said didn't jive with the public persona the author spent most of his time portraying. Hay was hyper critical, and made derogatory statements about his oldest son, yet was devastated by his death. The loss of a child would be devastating regardless of your relationship with that child, but he has Hay doing such a 360 degree change in his feelings and emotions, it doesn't make sense.

The author makes it sound as though Hay was fascinated by the woman he eventually married. He at least a crush on her. But there is no explanation why a 30+ year old man who had avoided commitment, fell at least temporarily in love with a woman that no one describes as attractive. I have to assume it was money. Then once they are married, even though they have four children, she is seldom mentioned.

I also found it odd that a 60+ year old man who essentially serves as the Premier of the United States, conducting multiple complex treaties at one time, still maintained a decades-long school-boy crush on a woman considerably younger than him, a woman that his best friend also loved, who, based on what I read, had no interest in him.

A little more backfill on his personal life might have made these discrepancies in his behavior and actions a little more understandable.

However, my overall impression of the book was very favorable. The narrator did a good job. I highly recommend.

[David Beeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was Gore Vidal, in his excellent novel Lincoln, who first made me aware of the character of John Hay.

I say ‘character’ advisedly. In this instance, Hay was a figure in a work of fiction. An attractive one: witty, clever, human, highly engaging. But it left me with the question, “just who was he?’

John Talliaferro’s All the Great Prizes gives a masterful answer, in a biography of John Hay. And what an answer it is.

Hay was one of Lincoln’s secretaries. Indeed, Talliaferro points out that, since he learned to forge Lincoln’s signature, he may well have done more than draft some of his correspondence but may have signed pieces of it himself.

Hay was at Lincoln’s bedside when the President died. Drama enough, one would have thought, for a lifetime. However, he later worked closely with his fellow Ohioan James Garfield and, although he was not invited to serve in his administration when Garfield won the White House, he was deeply shocked at his assassination, the second time a man he knew had been murdered as President. And that would not to be the last time he took such a blow.

While waiting a recall to political life, he worked as a journalist and as a Lincoln chronicler, producing a monumental biography with John Nicolay who had served with him as a presidential secretary in the Lincoln White House. Eventually, he was brought back into politics by a man he’d consistently backed and indeed helped rescue from bankruptcy – Hay had become wealthy through an excellent marriage to the daughter of a Cleveland multimillionaire railway and banking mogul – William McKinley.

When McKinley became president in 1893, Hay achieved a long-cherished wish, as a pronounced Anglophile, to serve as Ambassador to the Court of St James. What brought him back to the US was promotion to the top of the diplomatic service and to the post that represented the peak of his career, as Secretary of State. He held that post through the remainder of McKinley’s tenure, which ended – once more – in assassination, with Hay again by the bedside of a dying, murdered president.

Three times in a lifetime seems more than sufficient to mark Hay’s history as unusual…

When Teddy Roosevelt took over, he confirmed Hay as Secretary of State, an office he held right up to his death in 1905. Roosevelt wasn’t a man to give credit to others when he could seize it for himself and he would later deny Hay his achievements. However, Talliaferro argues persuasively, in agreement with many other authorities, that Hay played a key role in devising the ‘Open Door’ policy for China which ensured that all nations would be treated equally there (a policy we might today criticise as opening the country for exploitation for others, but which was at least equitable in its even-handedness), peacefully resolving the Canadian border dispute with Britain in the far West, and in setting up the diplomatic arrangements which would make the Panama Canal possible. That latter was certainly seen by Roosevelt as his achievement alone, but Hay’s contribution deserves more recognition than the president gave him.

Talliaferro gives an engaging and enjoyable account of the life of a remarkable man, dwelling not only on the political accomplishments but on his personal qualities. Not least among these was his extraordinary friendship with Henry Adams: they built houses next door to each other on the site of today’s Hay-Adams hotel and would write letters even though they knew they would be meeting before the letters could be delivered. There were also intriguing and complex love and sexual relations running through Hay’s life, including inside the Five of Hearts group to which Hay and Adams belonged with another friend, the mysterious and mercurial Clarence King, and their wives, and it detracts nothing from the charm of this book that Talliaferro takes us through their evolution too.

An enthralling read about a man who, it turns out, did far more than I’d imagined and did, indeed, win nearly all the great prizes.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: All the great book titles
Of which this is truly a classic, even though the book pulls up just short of my "What a classic!" rating. While judging a book by its title is as risky as judging by its cover, in this case Taliaferro chose well, and so will you if you read the book and meet the man behind it.

John Hay was a great statesman and even more, a great representative of the great American era between the Civil War and The Great War. Friend to royalty, of the kinds both crowned (during his term as ambassador to England he was a favorite of Queen Victoria) and American (Henry Adams of the Presidential Adams family was his closest friend and neighbor for many years), Hay was known and renowned as a poet, conversationalist, and dinner guest. His public career spanned the incredible gulf from Lincoln, whom he served as private secretary during the war, to Teddy Roosevelt, whose big stick Hay tempered with gentlemanly but firm reserve in negotiating his way through hot spots involving the Panama Canal, Alaskan border disputes, the Open Door policy in China, Russo-Japanese War, the Spanish-American War, and American empire-building in the Philippines.

But the private man was by far the more interesting and complex. Essentially middle-class and mid western (born in Illinois and married to the daughter of a wealthy Cleveland, Ohio tycoon) Hay worked closely and was so close to the rough hewn Lincoln he regarded the President like a father, yet also cherished the friendship of the patrician Adams and his upper crust English friends from his numerous trips abroad. A private man who preferred the anonymity of unsigned newspaper editorializing and published poems and a novel anonymously as well, he also sought diligently if not openly appointment to the very public roles of Ambassador to England and Secretary of State. And perhaps most awkwardly he was apparently a devoted husband and father of four children, while also pursuing the beautiful Lizzie Cameron, young wife of a disliked older Senator included in their circle of friends only because of his wife, writing glowing love letters and suggesting (but only so, in the gentlemanly language that a courtier of his time and class would use) apparent trysts while the couples shared dinners, teas, friends, and long vacations abroad. Clara Hay, ever the long suffering wife and mother, also apparently loved her husband all the while and in editing his letters after his ddath , categorized the aforementioned impassioned letters to Lizzie as "merely express[ing] his habit of gallantry, and his love of writing pretty phrases."

Yet for all the contradictions, John Hay seems in Taliaferro's hands a whole man, comfortable in his skin, both robust and human and well-read and humane--a man I would want to know, befriend, and spend time with, never the life of the party, but rather the contented core of it. But perhaps this man who lived such the charmed life was not so calm after all, as he bares his soul in this beautifully powerful quote as he neared his death:

"I cling instinctively to life and the things of life, as eagerly as if I had not had my chance at happiness & gained nearly all the great prizes."

Taliaferro chose the title well, and for the most part writes a great biography of the man. In fact the only flaw that keeps it from the classic category for me is that as Hay's public offices become larger and more prominent, Hay the private man tends to disappear in Taliaferro's retelling of the historical events that Hay played such a large and successful role in crafting. And while Hay was a great success as Secretary of State, and one of the best to ever hold the office, I find the private man the more interesting, and the more enduring, and wish to have learned more about that man behind the public persona as he matured and declined.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, let me just start out by saying that I love reading about the Civil War and anything relating to Abraham Lincoln, so it should be as no exception that I would enjoy reading about John Hay, one of Lincoln's personal secretaries.

But, there is another reason that I was interested in reading this biography. In early May, I had the opportunity to visit and tour Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. While there, our group was given a guided tour of some of the most famous people buried here, people such as James Garfield, John D. Rockefeller, and you guessed it, John Hay (and his family). From the story that I heard that day, I was compelled to learn more about this man, and his historic contributions to our country.

I did learn a lot about Hay, his family, his politics, etc., but I also learned a great deal more:

Back in the 1860's, a new political party was formed called the Liberal Republican Party. If that's not an oxymoron, I don't know what is.

In the election of 1876, Republicans disputed returns in South Carolina, Louisiana, and FLORIDA! Even back then, Florida was a problem. LOL!

And, it is interesting to note that (just like today), the popular and electoral votes did not always agree.

In 1880, Amasa Stone (Hay's father-in-law) bequeathed a half-million dollars to Western Reserve College on the condition that it relocate from Hudson, Ohio to Cleveland. At the same time, the philanthropist Leonard Case, Jr., conveyed $1 million to found a polytechnic school in Cleveland to be called the Case School of Applied Science.

Hay's diplomatic style was seen as unruffled, round-robin diplomacy.

Teddy Roosevelt really became Vice President by accident. He was not originally McKinley's Vice President. That job belonged to Garret Hobart, who passed away while in office. Roosevelt "campaigned" to join McKinley on the next ticket.

The similarities between Garfield's and McKinley's assassinations were haunting (p. 408)

The whole history surrounding the idea of the Panama Canal (John Hay was Teddy Roosevelt's Secretary of State) was fascinating. I had no idea that Columbia originally owned this part of Panama or that Nicaragua was also in the running to have "the" canal go through there.

On July 6, 1904, Hay delivered the speech of a lifetime. Fifty years earlier, to the day, a group of erstwhile Whigs, Free-Soilers, and Democrats, provoked by the recent Kansas-Nebraska Act, which negated the Missouri Compromise and enabled the spread of slavery west of the Mississippi, had gathered beneath a grove of oak trees in Jackson, Michigan, and held the very first convention under the Republican banner. Their movement spread from there, at first strictly anti-expansionist and not anti-slavery outright. Two years later, the Republicans nominated their first presidential candidate; in another two years, Abraham Lincoln ran for the Senate against Stephen Douglas and lost, setting the stage for 1860, when Lincoln led the Republican Party to the White House and, ultimately, to war. Since then, Grover Cleveland had been the only Democrat to win the presidency.

I really like it when books are tied up in neat, little packages at the end, telling what happened to the major players in the "story". The last two biographies that I have read (including this one) have done just that. After Hay's death, the reader learns what becomes of Hay's wife, his children, his grandchildren, and even a great-grandson.

A fascinating addition to the history of America.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became interested in this book while reading Edmund Morris's biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Of course, John Hay featured prominently in the second installment of Morris's trilogy, which covered TR's presidency. Morris's trilogy was very well-written and TR's story so compelling, I was inspired to read more about American history of the late 1800s. And after learning that Hay had such a long career "in the arena", working with and for several of the presidents of the late 19th century, I decided to give this book a read, figuring that most of the consequential characters in American history of that time period would make an appearance. It turns out that that happens in Taliaferro's book, but not quite in the way I expected.

While Hay worked closely with Lincoln, McKinley, and TR, there are significant gaps in his life during which he was seemingly uninvolved in government. That is not a failing of Hay's, just not something that I expected. Indeed, it was interesting to learn of how he made quite the name for himself with his literature. Where Hay, and the book, lost me a little bit is with his personal shortcomings. It's abundantly clear that Hay was unfaithful to his wife for probably decades. Yet, while it's not glossed over, Hay's infidelity is portrayed as a harmless whimsical romance, which I think is probably too light of a treatment. And Hay must have been quite the hypochondriac, given how many spells of fatigue he experienced and given his apparent overreaction to them. Lucky for him he married into more money than he could try to spend, and he was able to get away to Europe for some time in their medicinal "baths". Taliaferro makes, I think, only one passing mention of TR's opinion of Hay as being too delicate in reference to how little time TR suspected Hay would be able to last as president before his nerves would be shot. Taliaferro is too dismissive of TR and his opinions on a number of things, but it seemed to me that TR was probably right about Hay in this respect. And, like I mentioned I think Taliaferro borders on advocating for Hay's reputation over TR as opposed to just telling the story and letting the reader decide. Hay and TR were not two peas in a pod, and I don't think it's surprising that they didn't see eye to eye on everything. But Taliaferro ends up, not surprisingly, taking Hay's side in each conflict. And while TR may have believed himself to be even more influential than he was, that doesn't mean that TR was wrong in his assessment of Hay. In fact, I'd defer to TR's assessment in this case. That's not to say that Hay was ineffectual. That's clearly not the case and I don't think that TR really thought so.

The book is well written and informative, and it involves a person whose life should be more widely known and understood today. My only complaint is that, in small ways, Hay's shortcomings may have been white-washed.

[Nick Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The life of John Hay was interesting and instructive. Not only was the man our country's Secretary of State for many years, but also he was a talented writer and poet who was included among the first seven inductees to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, along with such company as Mark Twain. There is more to a Secretary of State than meets the eye.
Hay was lucky to have a terrific education, which consisted of at least four schools, ending with Brown University. His intelligence was matched by a quick wit and a talent for producing epigrams and quotes from Shelley and Shakespeare at dinners and gatherings. His first real job was a stunner - private secretary for President Abraham Lincoln. He went on to write the authorized biography of that great man.
He also was a writer of first rate in literary circles. His book "The Breadwinners" was successful as social commentary, and his "Pike County" poems were widely published in newspapers all over the country. His talent for writing made him fast friends with Mark Twain, Bram Stoker, Rudyard Kipling, William Dean Howells, Constance Woolson, and Henry James.
Overall, Hay was a gentleman, a scholar, and a patriot. His speech honoring President McKinley caused author Edith Wharton to say it was "oratory in the high sense of the word." His caution and carefulness, blended with a thoughtfulness that he would show to the President, foreign ministers, and ordinary men walking down the street, was integral to his person. He was kind and gentle, but he could be fierce, especially when protecting the country he loved so much.
Theodore Roosevelt said of Hay, what "a liberal education in high-minded statesmanship it was to sit at the same council table as John Hay." Andrew Carnegie showed his appreciation for Hay by saying, "You make the Republic what its Founders intended - something higher than the governments that preceded its birth."
Hay's work on treaties is legendary, and he carefully guided America during its years under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt. His life was not without tragedy, his father-in-law committed suicide and his own son fell from a third-floor window, dying instantly. Among all this trouble, he remained in charge with a diligence greater than his predecessors. Without Hay, China in its relations with the United States would be a much different country. He also put together the Panama Canal and carefully monitored the country when Roosevelt would be gung ho in engaging in military action.
His life was wonderful. Reading from these pages has been a blessing. This is a book along with "The Old Curiosity Shop" by Charles Dickens, that are my 2 favorite books that I have read during the past calendar year. I think Hay would agree with me on that one.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Goodreads for the opportunity to win this book!

This is the biography of John Hay, a person who figured prominently in American politics, but might be unknown to many people who have a "casual knowledge" of history. Hay started out as private secretary to Lincoln, and died as Secretary of State for Roosevelt. He was a prolific and gifted writer and much of what we know about about significant times in history are through his eyes and words.

The author's relentless work in researching Hay is evident. Much of the book contains excerpts from Hay's correspondence, and casts Hay in a light that is likely a close resemblance to the true John Hay.

This is a good book - over 500 dense pages of Hay's life from an young adult to his death. I learned a great deal in this book, not only about Hay but about world history. I particularly liked the beginning of the book (the Lincoln years) and the end (the Roosevelt years). I wish there was more in these areas. I would have loved to have read more about these pivotal times in American history.

Instead, Taliaferro filled much of the book with content that I felt was rather trivial. I believe that he is very much in awe of Hay and wanted to portray him as a human, not just a politician. However, I could have done with less detail regarding every letter that he wrote. Chapters drag on while talking about Hay's vacation travels, who stayed with him, and even more about the letters he wrote. I don't need that much detail on how he spent every season of his life.

Part of me was likely turned off by the copious letters featured to letters written to a woman who held his interest for most of his life. Lizzie was also the "primary focus" of his best friend. And, I should mention that she was not Hay's wife, and was married to another man the entire time.

The book's jacket boasts: "Hay’s friends are a who’s who of the era: Mark Twain, Horace Greeley, Henry Adams, Henry James, and virtually every president, sovereign, author, artist, power broker, and robber baron of the Gilded Age." I was very excited to read about this who's who of the Gilded Age. Some relationships get the attention promised, but others were briefly mentioned - there is one reference to a prominent individual that essentially says he had dinner at Hay's house once. That's it. It felt like name dropping, which added nothing to the biography.

At the end of the book I feel like the author almost falls over himself praising Hay and defending him from self-centered remarks Roosevelt made, which felt unnecessary. Through Hay's work, it is evident he was influential.

All in all, I think this is a good book and I'm smarter having read it.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

As we embark on a second American Gilded Age, I've been thinking a lot about the first one. One of the few positive stories to come out of it is the story of John Hay. A very young personal secretary and close confidante to Abraham Lincoln went on to see some of the world, came back to the U.S. to marry the daughter of one of the wealthiest men of his time and lived in a mansion in the wealthiest city of his time, was the best friend of Henry Adams, arguably one of the nation's first bona fide celebrities (the site of the Hay-Adams Hotel on the opposite side of Lafayette Square from the White House was previously their neighboring houses), and went on to become a trusted Secretary of State to Theodore Roosevelt and the architect of American Century.

Hay had good timing, was a profound intellectual, and, perhaps most consequentially, he was seemingly inbred with profound diplomatic skills of friendship and trust. Moreover, he was genuine and sure of himself, seemingly the right person at the right time to connecting the national ears of a nation emerging from a civil war to become the world’s most powerful influence in the 20th century.

A young Hay was one of two personal secretaries to Abraham Lincoln, working and living in the White House at the president’s side throughout the Civil War. He surely had tragedies in his life, none more than losing his son Adelbert, then a young adult, to a freak accident. But in sum, Hay led a good, interesting life, benefitting from but not adding to the injustices of his time. His skills as a diplomat, as Taliaferro describes so well, can be traced back to a time after Lincoln's assassination that he took touring Europe, something he was able to do again, this time on a wealthy "grand tour" that introduced him to the higher echelons of continental power. Hay was arguably the most fortunate son of the Gilded Age; the breadth of his experiences and actions mirrored his beloved nation’s growth from an unsure anomaly to a world power. As this wonderful biography makes clear, he was both a witness and substantive player in the most lasting legacies of American history.

The title comes from a summation Hay wrote before he died.

I know death is the common lot, and what is universal ought not to be deemed a misfortune; and yet—instead of confronting it with dignity and philosophy, I cling instinctively to life and the things of life, as eagerly as if I had not had my chance at happiness & gained nearly all the great prizes.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book because John Hay is a name one encounters at various points in late nineteenth century American history, but not one which attaches easily to a personality or particular accomplishments. Mr. Taliaferro's biography fills in the gaps. Hay is an almost Zelig-like figure who appears first as one of Lincoln's personal assistants (and later biographer), and then intermittently until he emerges as McKinley's (and subsequently Roosevelt's) Secretary of State.
Mr. Taliaferro's portrait of Hay is balanced, but mostly complimentary. Certainly, Hay was a well-educated, polished intellectual with an appealing personality. He wrote well and often, and made friends with important people. His biography, although fairly long, reads easily.
As I read, though, my opinion of Hay as a man and historical figure became increasingly negative. Between the bookends of his service to Lincoln and McKinley/Roosevelt, he did not impress. Along the way, he married an extremely wealthy woman, enabling him to live a nonproductive life of ease for many years. During this time, he was a serial philanderer, romancing two different married women and absenting himself from his family for months at a time in the process. Had he not cultivated influential people, I doubt if his limited accomplishments would have been enough to elevate him to positions of responsibility. When he did work occasionally at public service positions in his midlife years, his health and stamina were weak, and he took frequent and lengthy vacations.
Even as Secretary of State toward the end of his life, his main accomplishments seemed to be based on his patience and personality, rather than any particular ability. His work seemed to be guided by no specific principles. As he said himself, "I take refuge in a craven opportunism. I do what seems possible every day--not caring a hoot for consistency or the Absolute." In fact, Roosevelt--who praised Hay to his face--was critical of him at other times, saying that he made no significant personal contributions as Secretary of State.
So, while it may be an unfair reading, I came away with the impression of Hay as a bright, accomplished person who attained some prominence and position despite not having "paid his dues" of hard work and experience. That said, his blend of sophistication, personality, and ability to communicate served him well is his various diplomatic endeavors.

[mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most enjoyable, and most well written biographies that I have read in a while. This is due in no small part to the inclusion of a tremendous amount of Hay's own words from his published works, speeches, official correspondence, personal letters, and his diary. He was an incredibly eloquent writer, and even more eloquent statesman and gentleman. His story starts as a youngster in the "west" in Illinois, and proceeds on to his education and later life in Springfield where he meet the two men who would change the course of his life: John Nicolay and Abraham Lincoln; both of whom he would follow to Washington, DC to be assistant to the former, and personal secretary to the later. But, his story does not stop with Lincoln, it continues on for another 50 years of family, diplomacy, and statesmanship. He was friends or working colleague with most of the important politicians and many of the leading men of letters of his day to the point where his story is a who's who of the later half of the 19th century. He also had a major hand in the formative years of the United States on the world stage, and later as a world power. Taliaferro's story is a very good ratio of detail to drama, which is remarkable because Hay's life was so very full of both. Upon finishing this book I was torn between wanting to travel to Cleveland to visit Hay in his final resting place, or to go north to his country home in New Hampshire which is now open to the public, and walk where Hay did and see the White Mountains from the view where he chose to build his get-away-from-DC home.

[Tom Bantle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written life of a bright, well-educated man of his times. Hay diligently served as Lincoln’s assistant private secretary. His way with words found him writing letters that Lincoln is now known for. During the campaign and the Civil War Hay also wrote anonymous accounts for newspapers across the country. Before Lincoln was assassinated, Hay had already been appointed to a diplomatic post in France. Following other diplomatic posts, he became an editorial writer for the New York Herald Tribune. He wrote poems and a novel. Marrying into a very wealthy Cleveland family, Hay became part of the Gilded Age. Behind his wife’s back he flirted and had affairs with Senator’s wives. Eventually he became Ambassador to Great Britain and Secretary of State. In the latter post he established the Open Door Policy and the Panama Canal Zone.

Hay knew everyone who was anyone in America and England. He was great friends with Henry Adams and Henry James, but unlike them he did not question the mores of the Gilded Age, but instead epitomized them. As such he provided a great contrast to the last biography I read of William James, who was always examining and criticizing everything.