Today, 173 years ago, on June 29, 1852 (Lunar Calendar, May 12, 1852), the U.S. Secretary of State Henry Clay died. Picture: Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777 ¨C June 29, 1852), one of the most important politicians and speakers in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives, founder and leader of the Fugger Party, an advocate of American economic modernization. He served as U.S. Secretary of State and participated in the U.S. Presidential campaign five times. Despite both failures, he remained good at mediating both sides of the conflict and solving the conflict in the Southern North over slavery,ining the stability of the federation and was known as "the great mediator" and in 1957 was voted as one of the greatest five