Haystacks of Influence by John Hay

I am one with a purpose of capturing the popular imagination and I do this by being the witty poetic diplomat that I humbly accept. I have a minor addition to my humble career as Secretary of State. I was able to save China which has an enormous impact on today. In 1894, Russia and Germany, the European brat(wurst)s, turned their eyes towards an unstable China and began to cut into Manchurian land. This posed danger to missionaries and economists. Props to the press for raising awareness and props to Britain for encouraging us to do something. Enter me and the rest is history. In 1899, my Open Door Policy urged the Europeans to respect Chinese rights. Without surprise, it gained worldwide acceptance while making other countries quiver. Italy accepted our policy without trouble and Britain, France, Germany and Japan accepted as long as others did the same. Russia refused, and a refusal equals an acceptance (right?) so the policy was in effect. My cause increased by the Chinese themselves. In the Boxer Rebellion, they killed many whites including missionaries and diplomates who resided in Peking (Beijing). Though a tragic event where we owed them $24.5 M (and only paid $18 M), this supported the truth that said that we must respect China's rights. China was gracious to send students to study in America and learn their western ways, and this was key in westernizing their culture. Anyway, in addition to the Open Door Policy, I made a note in 1900 that was directed to embrace China's territorial and commercial integrity. Many argue that China survived due to European powers not trusting the other powers. That may be true, but the number one reason was due to my words of poetic justice. If I didn't step in, these Chinese would have most likely been conquered by either China and Germany which would have put America at a major disadvantage in both world wars and the Cold War because of all the raw materials China produces. If no one stepped into this mess, we'd be looking at Communism across the board. Who cares if China will be the number two economy in 2010, the thing is America will be number one because I helped everyone dodge a huge bullet. That is why I have haystacks of influence.