Editing John Hay (section)

==Early diplomatic career==
Hay sailed for Paris at the end of June 1865.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=107}} There, he served under U.S. Minister to France [[John Bigelow]].{{sfn|Thayer I|p=222}} The workload was not heavy, and Hay found time to enjoy the pleasures of Paris.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=109}} When Bigelow resigned in mid-1866,{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=111}} Hay, as was customary, submitted his resignation, though he was asked to remain until Bigelow's successor was in place, and stayed until January 1867. He consulted with Secretary of State Seward, asking him for "anything worth having".{{sfn|Kushner & Sherrill|p=62}} Seward suggested the post of Minister to Sweden, but reckoned without the new president, [[Andrew Johnson]], who had his own candidate. Seward offered Hay a job as his private secretary, but Hay declined, and returned home to Warsaw, Illinois.{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|p=181}}

Initially happy to be home, Hay quickly grew restive,{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=115–16}} and he was glad to hear, in early June 1867, that he had been appointed secretary of legation to act as chargé d'affaires at Vienna. He sailed for Europe the same month, and while in England visited the House of Commons, where he was greatly impressed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Benjamin Disraeli]].{{sfn|Thayer I|pp=278–80}} The Vienna post was only temporary, until Johnson could appoint a chargé d'affaires and have him confirmed by the Senate, and the workload was light, allowing Hay, who was fluent in German, to spend much of his time traveling.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=115–18}} It was not until July 1868 that Henry Watts became Hay's replacement. Hay resigned, spent the remainder of the summer in Europe, then went home to Warsaw.{{sfn|Taliaferro|p=119}}

Unemployed again, in December 1868 Hay journeyed to the capital, writing to Nicolay that he "came to Washington in the peaceful pursuit of a fat office. But there is nothing just now available".{{sfn|Kushner|p=370}} Seward promised to "wrestle with Andy for anything that turns up", but nothing did prior to the departure of both Seward and Johnson from office on March 4, 1869.{{sfn|Zeitz 2014a|pp=185–86}} In May, Hay went back to Washington from Warsaw to press his case with the new [[Grant administration]]. The next month, due to the influence of his friends, he obtained the post of secretary of legation in Spain.{{sfn|Kushner|pp=370–71}}

Although the salary was low, Hay was interested in serving in Madrid both because of the political situation there—Queen [[Isabella II]] had recently been deposed—and because the U.S. Minister was the swashbuckling former congressman, General [[Daniel Sickles]]. Hay hoped to assist Sickles in gaining U.S. control over Cuba, then a Spanish colony. Sickles was unsuccessful{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=121–24}} and Hay resigned in May 1870, citing the low salary, but remaining in his post until September.{{sfn|Kushner|p=370}} Two legacies of Hay's time in Madrid were magazine articles he wrote that became the basis of his first book, ''Castilian Days'', and his lifelong friendship with Sickles's personal secretary, [[Alvey A. Adee]], who would be a close aide to Hay at the State Department.{{sfn|Taliaferro|pp=124–25}}