Teapot Dome Scandal

The Scandal dates back to the popular legislation of presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and William Taft, specifically as to the navel petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California. There were three navel oil fields, Elk Hills and Buena Vista Hills in California and Teapot Dome in Wyoming, were tracts of public land that were owned by previous presidents to be emergency underground supplies to be used by the navy when they had no more regular supplies.

The Teapot Dome oil field received its because of a teapot shaped rock above the oil-bearing land. Many politicians and private private oil intersects had opposed the restrictions placed on the oil fields claiming that the reserves were unnecessary and that the American oil companies could provide for the U.S. Navy.

One politician that opposed the conservation was Albert B. Fall Who was Warren G. Harding's interior secretary in 1921. Upon becoming secretary of the interior, convinced the secretary of the Navy to turn over the control of the oil fields to him. Fall then moved to lease the Teapot Dome to Harry Sinclair's Mammoth Oil Company and the Elk Hills reserve to Edward Doheny's Pan American Petroleum Company. In return for leasing these oil fields to the respective oil magnates Fall received "gifts" from the oilmen totaling about $400,000. Fall tried to keep his actions secret but his sudden improvements in his standard of living drew speculation. The scandal was revealed to the public in 1924 after findings by a committee of the U.S. Senate. Albert Fall had made legitamite leases of the oil fields to the private companies but the taking of money was his undoing.


-Prashant Singh