Editing John Hay (section)

===Assassination of Lincoln===
{{main|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}
By the end of 1864, with Lincoln reelected and the victorious war winding down, both Hay and Nicolay let it be known that they desired different jobs. Soon after [[Lincoln's second inauguration]] in March 1865, the two secretaries were appointed to the US delegation in Paris, Nicolay as consul and Hay as secretary of legation. Hay wrote to his brother Charles that the appointment was "entirely unsolicited and unexpected", a statement that Kushner and Sherrill found unconvincing given that Hay had spent hundreds of hours during the war with Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]], who had often discussed personal and political matters with him, and the close relationship between the two men was so well known that office-seekers cultivated Hay as a means of getting to Seward.{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|p=62}} The two men were also motivated to find new jobs by their deteriorating relationship with Mary Lincoln, who sought their ouster, and by Nicolay's desire to wed his intended—he could not bring a bride to his shared room at the White House. They remained at the White House pending the arrival and training of replacements.{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|pp=161–64}}

Hay did not accompany the Lincolns to [[Ford's Theatre]] on the night of April 14, 1865, but remained at the White House, drinking whiskey with Robert Lincoln. When the two were informed that the President [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|had been shot]], they hastened to the Petersen House, a [[boarding house]] where the stricken Lincoln had been taken. Hay remained by Lincoln's deathbed through the night{{sfn|Zeitz 2014b}} and was present when he died. At the moment of Lincoln's death, Hay observed "a look of unspeakable peace came upon his worn features".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hay|first=John|title=The Life and Letters of John Hay, ''Vol. 1 (quote's original source is Hay's diary, which is quoted in'' Abraham Lincoln: A History'', Vol. 10, p. 292, by John G. Nicolay and John Hay)''|date=1915|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof007751mbp/lifeandlettersof007751mbp_djvu.txt|access-date=April 25, 2014}}</ref> He heard War Secretary [[Edwin Stanton]]'s declaration, "Now he belongs to the ages."{{sfn|Thayer I|pp=219–220}}

According to Kushner and Sherrill, "Lincoln's death was for Hay a personal loss, like the loss of a father&nbsp;... Lincoln's assassination erased any remaining doubts Hay had about Lincoln's greatness."{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|p=62}} In 1866, in a personal letter, Hay deemed Lincoln, "the greatest character since Christ".{{sfn|Gale|p=18}} Taliaferro noted that "Hay would spend the rest of his life mourning Lincoln&nbsp;... wherever Hay went and whatever he did, Lincoln would ''always'' be watching".{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=105, 107}}