Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 8, 2014

John Hay (1838–1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. After graduation from Brown University in 1858, Hay read law in his uncle's office in Springfield, Illinois, adjacent to that of Abraham Lincoln. Hay worked for Lincoln's successful presidential campaign, and became his assistant private secretary at the White House. Through the years of the American Civil War, Hay was close to Lincoln, and stood by his deathbed after the President was shot at Ford's Theatre. In 1897, President William McKinley, for whom he had been a major backer, made him Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The following year, Hay became United States Secretary of State. He served almost seven years, under McKinley, and after his assassination, under Theodore Roosevelt. Hay was responsible for the Open Door Policy in China, and negotiated the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty (1901) with the UK, as well as the Hay–Herrán Treaty (1903) with Colombia, and the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903) that cleared the way for the building of the Panama Canal. Hay was also an author and biographer, and wrote poetry and other literature through much of his life.

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