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{{Short description|1921–1923 U.S. political bribery scandal}}
{{Redirect|Teapot Dome}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox historical event
| Event_Name = Teapot Dome scandal
| Image_Name = OIL WELLS NEAR TEAPOT DOME, WYOMING - NARA - 549208 (restored).jpg
| partof = the [[presidency of Warren G. Harding]] and the [[Ohio Gang]]
| Image_Caption = [[Oil wells]] near [[Teapot Rock|Teapot Dome]] in [[Wyoming]] (1973)
| Participants = [[Presidency of Warren G. Harding#Administration|Harding administration]], particularly [[Albert B. Fall]], and oil executive [[Harry Ford Sinclair]]
| Date = {{Start date|1923|3|6}} – {{End date|1929|10|14}}
}}
{{Warren G. Harding series}}
The '''Teapot Dome scandal''' was a [[political corruption]] scandal in the [[United States]] involving the administration of President [[Warren G. Harding]]. It centered on [[Albert B. Fall]], the [[Interior Secretary]], who had leased [[petroleum]] reserves designated for the [[United States Navy|Navy]] at [[Teapot Rock|Teapot Dome]] in [[Wyoming]], as well as two locations in [[California]], to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 10, 2019 |title=Teapot Dome Scandal |url=https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/teapot-dome-scandal |access-date=April 14, 2020 |website=[[History Channel]]}}</ref> The leases were the subject of an investigation by Senator [[Thomas J. Walsh]]. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first [[Cabinet of the United States|presidential cabinet]] member to go to prison, but no one was convicted of paying the bribes.

Before the [[Watergate scandal]], Teapot Dome was regarded as the "greatest and most sensational [[List of federal political scandals in the United States|scandal in the history of American politics]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cherny |first=Robert W |title=Graft and Oil: How Teapot Dome Became the Greatest Political Scandal of its Time |url=http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/historian5.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709015531/http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/historian5.php |archive-date=July 9, 2010 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |website=History Now |publisher=[[Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History]]}}</ref>

[[United States Congress|Congress]] subsequently passed permanent legislation granting itself [[subpoena]] power over tax records of any U.S. citizen, regardless of position.<ref name="Paletta9April">{{Cite news |last=Paletta |first=Damian |date=April 9, 2019 |title=Mnuchin reveals White House lawyers consulted Treasury on Trump tax returns, despite law meant to limit political involvement |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/white-house-treasury-lawyers-discussed-trumps-tax-returns-before-democrats-request-mnuchin-says/2019/04/09/9693618e-5ad2-11e9-842d-7d3ed7eb3957_story.html |access-date=April 9, 2019}}</ref> These laws are also considered to have empowered Congress generally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jurecic |first=Quinta |date=May 11, 2020 |title=The Supreme Court Case That Could Destroy the Balance of Powers |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/trump-tax-return-cases-could-set-dangerous-precedent/611425/ |access-date=May 17, 2020 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Teapot Rock postcard crop.jpg|thumb|left|Teapot Dome (including [[Teapot Rock]]) around the time of the scandal, depicted in a {{Circa|1922}} postcard]]
To ensure that the Navy would always have enough fuel, [[President Taft]] designated several oil-producing areas as naval oil reserves. In 1921, President Harding issued an [[executive order]] to transfer control of [[Teapot Rock|Teapot Dome Oil Field]] in [[Natrona County, Wyoming]], and the [[Elk Hills Oil Field|Elk Hills]] and [[Buena Vista Oil Field]]s in [[Kern County, California]], from the [[United States Department of the Navy|Navy Department]] to the [[Department of the Interior]]. This was not implemented until the next year, when Interior Secretary Fall persuaded [[Navy Secretary]] [[Edwin C. Denby]] to implement the order.

Later in 1922, Fall leased oil production rights at Teapot Dome to [[Harry F. Sinclair]] of Mammoth Oil, a subsidiary of [[Sinclair Oil Corporation]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McHugh |first=Erin |title=Political Suicide |date=2016 |publisher=Pegasus Books |isbn=978-1-60598-978-5 |location=New York |pages=242}}</ref> He also leased the Elk Hills reserve to [[Edward L. Doheny]] of [[Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company]]. Both leases were issued without competitive bidding; leasing without bids was legal under the [[Mineral Leasing Act of 1920]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 as Amended (re-transcribed 2007-08-07) |url= http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ut/vernal_fo/lands___minerals.Par.6287.File.dat/MineralLeasingAct1920.pdf |access-date=September 8, 2014 |publisher=Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior}}</ref>

The lease terms were very favorable to the oil companies, and secret transactions associated with the two deals made Fall a rich man. He received a no-interest loan from Doheny of $100,000<ref>{{Cite web |date= November 23, 1926 |title=Fall and Doheny Fight to Bar Senate Records on $100,000 Cash Loan |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1926/11/25/archives/fall-and-doheny-fight-to-bar-senate-records-on-100000-cash-loan.html |work=New York Times}}</ref> in November 1921 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|0.1|1921|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{inflation/fn|US}}). He received other gifts from Doheny and Sinclair totaling about $404,000 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|0.404|1921|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{inflation/fn|US}}). While the leases were legal, these transactions were not. Fall attempted to keep them secret, but a sudden improvement in his [[standard of living]] raised suspicions. He paid up his ranch taxes, for example, which had been as much as 10 years past due. [[Carl Magee]], who later founded ''[[The Albuquerque Tribune]]'', wrote about this sudden affluence and also brought it to the attention of the Senate investigation.<ref name="Roberts 1977">{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Chalmers M. |date=June 9, 1977 |title=Uncovering a Coverup on Teapot Dome |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/06/09/uncovering-a-coverup-on-teapot-dome/93c16e16-8e32-4bf0-aabd-bb83c9bebd0d/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

==Investigation and outcome==
[[File:Edward Doheny Testifying 2 crop.jpg|thumb|Oil businessman [[Edward L. Doheny]] (at table, second from right) testifying before the [[U.S. Senate]] committee investigating the Teapot Dome oil leases in 1924]]
In April 1922, a Wyoming oil operator wrote to his senator, [[John B. Kendrick]], angered that Sinclair had been given a contract to the lands in a secret deal. Kendrick did not write back to the man, but two days later on April 15, he introduced a resolution calling for an investigation of the deal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis, Margaret L |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q65CsgOv7dMC&pg=PA149 |title=Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-520-92705-6 |page=149}}</ref> In March 1923, the U.S. Senate launched their first investigation into Teapot Dome.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 7, 1923 |title=First Investigation is to Begin Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-first-investigation-is/156889824/ |access-date=October 10, 2024 |work=The Baltimore Sun}}</ref> [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Senator [[Robert M. La Follette]] of [[Wisconsin]] led an investigation by the Senate Committee on Public Lands. At first, La Follette believed Fall was innocent. However, his suspicions were aroused after his own office in the [[Senate Office Building]] was ransacked.<ref name="Historical Minutes">{{Cite web |title=Senate Investigates the 'Teapot Dome' Scandal |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Senate_Investigates_the_Teapot_Dome_Scandal.htm |department=Historical Minutes: 1921–1940 |publisher=Art & History, United States Senate}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Quentin R. Skrabec Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7VqDwAAQBAJ |title=The Ohio Presidents: Eight Men and a Binding Political Philosophy in the White House, 1841–1923 |publisher=McFarland |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4766-6930-4 |page=199 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Democrat [[Thomas J. Walsh]] of [[Montana]], the most junior minority member, led a lengthy inquiry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas J. Walsh: A Featured Biography |url=https://www.senate.gov/senators/FeaturedBios/Featured_Bio_Walsh.htm |publisher=US Senate}}</ref> For two years, Walsh pushed forward while Fall stepped backward, covering his tracks as he went. No evidence of wrongdoing was initially uncovered, as the leases were legal enough, but records kept disappearing mysteriously. By 1924, the remaining unanswered question was how Fall had become so rich so quickly and easily.

Harding-era U.S. Attorney General [[Harry M. Daugherty]] and others in the [[Harding Administration]] were implicated by  [[Thomas W. Miller]], the [[Alien Property Custodian]], for pressuring him to deposit funds in the Midland National Bank where Daugherty's brother Mally "Mal" S.<ref name=midlandcontroversy>{{cite news|url=https://time.com/archive/6744866/national-affairs-daugherty-bank/|title=National Affairs: Daugherty Bank|publisher=Time|date=May 26, 1930|accessdate=February 2, 2025}}</ref> Daugherty served as president, when Daugherty refused to investigate the Teapot Dome Scandal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kastenberg |first=Joshua E. |date=February 12, 2022 |title=Judicial Ethics in the Confluence of National Security and Political Ideology: William Howard Taft and the “Teapot Dome” Oil Scandal as a Case Study for the Post-Trump Era |url=https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thestmaryslawjournal/vol53/iss1/2 |journal=St. Mary's Law Journal |volume=53 |issue=1}}</ref> On January 17, 1927, in the ''[[McGrain v. Daugherty]]'' ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a contempt conviction against Mally Daugherty which was related to a contempt citation which was issued against him in 1924<ref name=midlandcontroversy /> for his refusal to cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee investigating his brother's failures to prosecute the perpetrators in the Teapot Dome Scandal.<ref>{{Cite web | title = McGrain v. Daugherty | publisher = Oyez.org | url = https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/273us135 | accessdate = January 5, 2018}}</ref> However, the Supreme Court decision to uphold Mal's contempt conviction would also result in the Midland Bank case against Daugherty passing into history.<ref name=midlandcontroversy />

Money from the bribes had gone to Fall's cattle ranch and investments in his business. Finally, as the investigation was winding down with Fall apparently innocent, Walsh uncovered a piece of evidence Fall had failed to cover up: Doheny's $100,000 loan to Fall. This discovery broke open the scandal. Civil and criminal suits related to the scandal continued throughout the 1920s. In 1927, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled that the oil leases had been corruptly obtained. The Court invalidated the Elk Hills lease in February 1927, and the Teapot Dome lease in October.<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Sandy |last1=Franks |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3lkDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |title=Barbarians of Oil: How the World's Oil Addiction Threatens Global Prosperity and Four Investments to Protect Your Wealth |first2=Sara |last2=Nunnally |publisher=John Wiley & Sons (Agora Series) |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-118-00182-0 |volume=22 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Both reserves were returned to the Navy.<ref name=revenues />

[[File:Albert B. Fall with map background.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Albert B. Fall]] was the first U.S. cabinet official sentenced to prison in the scandal.]]

In 1929, Fall was found guilty of accepting bribes from Doheny.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cabinet member found guilty in Teapot Dome scandal |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cabinet-member-guilty-in-teapot-dome-scandal |website=On ThisDay In History |publisher=History.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 25, 2019 |title=On This Day: Interior Secretary Fall found guilty in Teapot Dome scandal |url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/10/25/On-This-Day-Interior-Secretary-Fall-found-guilty-in-Teapot-Dome-scandal/4141571969653/ |work=UPI}}</ref><ref name="Historical Minutes" /> Conversely, in 1930, Doheny was acquitted of paying bribes to Fall.<ref name="Roberts 1977" /> Further, Doheny's corporation foreclosed on Fall's home<ref>{{Cite book |last=W. C. Jameson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vi_XDwAAQBAJ |title=Cold Case: The Assassination of Pat Garrett: Investigating History's Mysteries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4930-4589-1 |page=204 |via=Google Books}}</ref> in the [[Tularosa Basin]] of New Mexico, because of "unpaid loans" that turned out to be that same $100,000 bribe. Sinclair served six months in jail on a charge of [[jury tampering]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCartney |first=Laton |url=https://archive.org/details/teapotdomescanda00mcca |title=The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4000-6316-1 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Although Fall was to blame for this scandal, Harding's reputation was permanently sullied<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott B. MacDonald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hco3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70 |title=Separating Fools from Their Money: A History of American Financial Scandals |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-351-30678-2 |edition=2 |page=70 |via=Google Books}}</ref> because of his involvement with people associated to it. Evidence proving Fall's guilt only arose after Harding's death in 1923.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Scott B. |url=https://archive.org/details/separat_mac_2007_00_2620 |title=Separating Fools from Their Money: A History of American Financial Scandals |last2=Hughes |first2=Jane E. |date=2015 |publisher=Transaction |isbn=978-0-7658-0356-6 |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |orig-year=1st pub. 2007 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The Teapot Dome oil field was idle for 49 years following the scandal, but went back into production in 1976. After Teapot Dome had earned over $569 million in revenue from the {{convert|22|e6oilbbl|lk=in}} of oil extracted over the previous 39 years, the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] in February 2015 sold the oil field for $45 million to New York–based Stranded Oil<!-- This is not a spelling error!  According to reliable sources, this company's name is STRANDED OIL. --> Resources Corp.<ref name="revenues">{{Cite news |date=January 30, 2015 |url=http://www.denverpost.com/2015/01/30/government-sells-scandalized-teapot-dome-oilfield-for-45-million |title=Government sells scandalized Teapot Dome oilfield for $45 million |access-date=June 4, 2017 |work=[[Denver Post]] |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |title=Alleghany Capital Corporation Announces Acquisition Of "Teapot Dome Oilfield" By Stranded Oil Resources Corporation |date=January 30, 2015 |publisher=Alleghany Capital |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alleghany-capital-corporation-announces-acquisition-of-teapot-dome-oilfield-by-stranded-oil-resources-corporation-300028515.html |agency=PR Newswire}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The scandal had occurred before [[Calvin Coolidge]] became president after Harding's death, and the investigations increased his reputation for honesty. Coolidge easily won the [[1924 United States presidential election]].<ref name="nyt19330106">{{Cite news |title=Unusual Political Career of Calvin Coolidge, Never Defeated for an Office |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0704.html |access-date=July 23, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

The Supreme Court's ruling in ''[[McGrain v. Daugherty]]'' (1927) for the first time explicitly established that [[Congress of the United States|Congress]] had the power to compel testimony.<ref name="oyez">{{Cite web |title=McGrain v. Daugherty |url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1924/1924_28 |access-date=November 2, 2010 |publisher=Oyez.org}}</ref>

In response to the scandal, the [[Revenue Act of 1924]] gave the chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means]] the right to obtain the tax records of any taxpayer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Torres-Spelliscy |first=Ciara |date=April 15, 2019 |title=What the Teapot Dome Scandal Has to Do With Trump’s Tax Returns |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/what-teapot-dome-scandal-has-do-trumps-tax-returns |access-date=October 16, 2025 |website=[[Brennan Center]] |language=en}}</ref> The [[Federal Corrupt Practices Act]], which regulates campaign finance, was strengthened in 1925.

==Comparison==
The Teapot Dome scandal has historically been regarded as the worst such scandal in the United States{{r|nyt19330106}} – the "[[high water mark]]" of cabinet corruption. It is often used as a benchmark for comparison with subsequent scandals. In particular it has been compared to the [[Watergate scandal]], in which a cabinet member, Attorney General [[John N. Mitchell]], went to prison, the second time in American history that a member of the cabinet has been incarcerated.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Watergate & the Teapot Dome Scandal: The History and Legacy of America's Most Notorious Government Scandals |date=November 2, 2016 |publisher=Charles River Editors |edition=Kindle |asin=B01N9IMB2P}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Little Green House on K Street]]
* [[List of federal political scandals in the United States]]
* [[Teapot Dome Service Station]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last1=Bates |first1=James Leonard |title=The origins of Teapot Dome; progressives, parties and petroleum, 1909–1921 |date=1963 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofteapotd00bate |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Leslie E. |title=One Lesson From History: Appointment of Special Counsel and the Investigation of the Teapot Dome Scandal |date=1999 |publisher=Brookings Institution |url=http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson/teapotdome.htm}}
* History.com Editors. "[https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/teapot-dome-scandal Teapot Dome Scandal]". History. 2017.
* {{cite book |last1=Ise |first1=John |title=The United States Oil Policy |date=1926 |publisher=Yale University Press |language=en}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Murphy |editor1-first=Blakely M. |title=Conservation of oil & gas, a legal history, 1948 |date=1948 |publisher=Arno Press; American Bar Association |location=New York |isbn=978-0-405-04522-6 |edition=1972 |url=https://archive.org/details/conservationofoi0000amer |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last1=Noggle |first1=Burl |title=Teapot Dome : oil and politics in the 1920's |date=1965 |publisher=Norton |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-00297-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/teapotdomeoilpol0000nogg |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last1=Werner |first1=M. R. (Morris Robert) |last2=Starr |first2=John |title=Teapot Dome |date=1959 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/teapotdome0000unse |url-access=registration}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline}}

{{Warren G. Harding}}
{{US federal public corruption law}}
{{US history}}
{{Special Prosecutors and Independent Counsels of the U.S.}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Teapot Dome scandal| ]]
[[Category:1920s in the United States]]
[[Category:1922 in California]]
[[Category:1922 in Wyoming]]
[[Category:1923 in California]]
[[Category:1923 in Wyoming]]
[[Category:Bribery scandals]]
[[Category:Cover-ups]]
[[Category:Harding administration controversies]]
[[Category:History of Kern County, California]]
[[Category:History of Wyoming]]
[[Category:History of the San Joaquin Valley]]
[[Category:Natrona County, Wyoming]]
[[Category:Oil fields in Kern County, California]]
[[Category:Petroleum in California]]
[[Category:Petroleum in the United States]]
[[Category:Political corruption scandals in the United States]]
[[Category:Sinclair Oil Corporation]]