Editing John Hay (section)

===Return to politics===
[[File:James Abram Garfield, photo portrait seated.jpg|thumb|upright|[[James A. Garfield]]: the second president to be assassinated whom Hay advised]]
Hay remained disaffected from the Republican Party in the mid-1870s. Seeking a candidate of either party he could support as a reformer, he watched as his favored Democrat, [[Samuel Tilden]], gained his party's nomination, but his favored Republican, [[James G. Blaine]], did not, falling to Ohio Governor [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], whom Hay did not support during the campaign. Hayes's [[1876 United States presidential election|victory in the election]] left Hay an outsider as he sought a return to politics, and he was initially offered no place in the new administration.{{sfn|Kushner|pp=373–74}} Nevertheless, Hay attempted to ingratiate himself with the new president by sending him a gold ring with a strand of George Washington's hair, a gesture that Hayes deeply appreciated.{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|p=206}} Hay spent time working with Nicolay on their Lincoln biography, and traveling in Europe.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=179–81}} When Reid, who had succeeded Greeley as editor of the ''Tribune'', was offered the post of Minister to Germany in December 1878, he turned it down and recommended Hay. Secretary of State [[William M. Evarts]] indicated that Hay "had not been active enough in political efforts", to Hay's regret, who told Reid that he "would like a second-class mission uncommonly well".{{sfn|Kushner|pp=374–75}}

From May to October 1879, Hay set out to reconfirm his credentials as a loyal Republican, giving speeches in support of candidates and attacking the Democrats. In October, President and [[Lucy Hayes|Mrs. Hayes]] came to a reception at Hay's Cleveland home. When Assistant Secretary of State [[Frederick W. Seward]] resigned later that month, Hay was offered his place and accepted, after some hesitancy because he was considering running for Congress.{{sfn|Kushner|pp=375–76}}

In Washington, Hay oversaw a staff of eighty employees, renewed his acquaintance with his friend [[Henry Adams]], and substituted for Evarts at Cabinet meetings when the Secretary was out of town.{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|pp=206–07}} In 1880, he campaigned for the Republican nominee for president, his fellow Ohioan, Congressman [[James A. Garfield]].{{sfn|Kushner|p=377}} Hay felt that Garfield did not have enough backbone, and hoped that Reid and others would "inoculate him with the gall which I fear he lacks".{{sfn|Ackerman|pp=205–06}} Garfield consulted Hay before and after [[1880 United States presidential election|his election as president]] on appointments and other matters, but offered Hay only the post of private secretary (though he promised to increase its pay and power), and Hay declined.{{sfn|Kushner|pp=377–78}} Hay resigned as assistant secretary effective March 31, 1881, and spent the next seven months as acting editor of the ''Tribune'' during Reid's extended absence in Europe. [[Assassination of James A. Garfield|Garfield's death]] in September and Reid's return the following month left Hay again on the outside of political power, looking in. He would spend the next fifteen years in that position.{{sfn|Kushner|p=378}}