The Life and Death of An American Statesman

John Hay was born in a small mid-western town and sent by his physician father to Brown University for his education. He returned to Springfield IL where he was hired by Abraham Lincoln as a personal secretary and stayed with Lincoln through the assassination. He then returned to private life, married into a wealthy family and developed a successful literary and investment career. In 1879, he joined the State Department and later became Secretary under presidents McKinley and Roosevelt. He negotiated many important treaties including those related to building the Panama Canal. Later in life, his health deteriorated with symptoms of angina pectoris and heart failure. Limited medical understanding of these matters at the time are reviewed but were then of little benefit. Probably his most effective therapy was rest during weeks of carbonated baths at Bad Nauheim. Hay died suddenly, shortly after arriving home from the last of these trips.