Adams turns his attention back to international politics and his friend John Hay, now at “the summit of his career.” Henry attempts to speak of the political influence of nations in terms of inertia and is specifically interested in Russia, China, and the Russo-Japanese War. He fears that the Open Door to China is about to be closed, perhaps permanently. Adams discusses his attitude toward women and comments on the emancipation of the gender in America in the early 1900s as well as the dangers that he thinks this entails. He mentions women’s “superiority” but in a somewhat patronizing and limited way.
