Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner
John Hay
by Tyler Dennett
Summary
Dennett chronicles the career of John Hay, who began as private secretary to Abraham Lincoln and rose to serve as secretary of state under McKinley and Roosevelt. The book traces Hay's role in shaping the Open Door policy toward China and American diplomacy at the turn of the century. It connects a personal life of letters and friendship to the larger arc of the nation's emergence as a world power.
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Historical Context & Significance
John Hay witnessed both Lincoln's presidency and the rise of the United States as an international power, a span the book uses to frame an era.