Editing John Hay (section)

====McKinley backer====
{{for|further information on the debate about the gold standard in the 1896 campaign|Cross of Gold speech}}
Hay was an early supporter of Ohio's [[William McKinley]] and worked closely with McKinley's political manager, Cleveland industrialist [[Mark Hanna]]. In 1889, Hay supported McKinley in his unsuccessful effort to become Speaker of the House.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=258}} Four years later, McKinley—by then Governor of Ohio—faced a crisis when a friend whose notes he had imprudently co-signed went bankrupt during the [[Panic of 1893]]. The debts were beyond the governor's means to pay, and the possibility of insolvency threatened McKinley's promising political career. Hay was among those Hanna called upon to contribute, buying up $3,000 of the debt of over $100,000. Although others paid more, "Hay's checks were two of the first, and his touch was more personal, a kindness McKinley never forgot". The governor wrote, "How can I ever repay you & other dear friends?"{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=282}}

[[File:William McKinley by Courtney Art Studio, 1896.jpg|thumb|upright|Hay supported [[William McKinley]] in the 1896 presidential election.]]

The same panic that nearly ruined McKinley convinced Hay that men like himself must take office to save the country from disaster. By the end of 1894, he was deeply involved in efforts to lay the groundwork for [[William McKinley presidential campaign, 1896|the governor's 1896 presidential bid]]. It was Hay's job to persuade potential supporters that McKinley was worth backing.{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|pp=78–80}} Nevertheless, Hay found time for a lengthy stay in New Hampshire—one visitor at The Fells in mid-1895 was [[Rudyard Kipling]]—and later in the year wrote, "The summer wanes and I have done nothing for McKinley."{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=294–96}} He atoned with a $500 check to Hanna, the first of many.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=294–96}} During the winter of 1895–96, Hay passed along what he heard from other Republicans influential in Washington, such as Massachusetts Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]].{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=297–98}}

Hay spent part of the spring and early summer of 1896 in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in Europe. There was a border dispute between Venezuela and [[British Guiana]], and Cleveland's Secretary of State, [[Richard Olney]], supported the Venezuelan position, announcing the [[Olney interpretation]] of the [[Monroe Doctrine]]. Hay told British politicians that McKinley, if elected, would be unlikely to change course. McKinley was nominated in June 1896; still, many Britons were minded to support whoever became the Democratic candidate. This changed when the [[1896 Democratic National Convention]] nominated former Nebraska congressman [[William Jennings Bryan]] on a "[[free silver]]" platform; he had electrified the delegates with his [[Cross of Gold speech]]. Hay reported to McKinley when he returned to Britain after a brief stay on the Continent during which Bryan was nominated in Chicago: "they were all scared out of their wits for fear Bryan would be elected, and very polite in their references to you."{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|pp=81–82}}{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=300–01}}

Once Hay returned to the United States in early August, he went to The Fells and watched from afar as Bryan [[whistle stop train tour|barnstormed]] the nation in [[William Jennings Bryan presidential campaign, 1896|his campaign]] while McKinley gave speeches [[front porch campaign|from his front porch]]. Despite an invitation from the candidate, Hay was reluctant to visit McKinley at his home in Canton. "He has asked me to come, but I thought I would not struggle with the millions on his trampled lawn".{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=305–06}} In October, after basing himself at his Cleveland home and giving a speech for McKinley, Hay went to Canton at last, writing to Adams,

{{quote|I had been dreading it for a month, thinking it would be like talking in a boiler factory.  But he met me at the [railroad] station, gave me meat & took me upstairs and talked for two hours as calmly & serenely as if we were summer boarders in Bethlehem, at a loss for means to kill time.  I was more struck than ever with his mask. It is a genuine Italian ecclesiastical face of the XVth Century.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=307}}}}

Hay was disgusted by Bryan's speeches, writing in language that Taliaferro compares to ''The Bread-Winners'' that the Democrat "simply reiterates the unquestioned truths that every man with a clean shirt is a thief and ought to be hanged: that there is no goodness and wisdom except among the illiterate & criminal classes".{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=307}} Despite Bryan's strenuous efforts, McKinley won the election easily, with a campaign run by himself and Hanna, and well-financed by supporters like Hay.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=307}} Henry Adams later wondered, "I would give sixpence to know how much Hay paid for McKinley. His politics must have cost."{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|p=83}}