This is a personal biography and not a political history. John Hay was an ideal letter writer, he recorded his impressions so freshly and so vividly that he never leaves us in doubt as to what he thought of persons, political affairs, or life's experiences. Contents: Beginnings; Brown University, Poet in Exile; First Months in the White House; War in Earnest; Errands North and South; Great Companion; Roving Diplomat: Paris, Vienna, Spain; Washington during Reconstruction; Journalism; Authorship; Friendship; Politics. Illustrated.