Teapot Scandal
The origin of the scandal dates back to the popular conservation legislation of Teodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. The scandal started with the creation of naval petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California. In California there was the Elk Hills and the Buena Vista Hills. In Wyoming there was Teapot Dome named the Teapot Dome because of a rock that was above of the land. This three oil fields were reserved by previous presidents for navy oil use when regular oil supplies diminshed. Many politicans opposed the creation of the reserves one of these politicians was Senator Albert B. Fall who in 1921 became Warren Harding's Secretary of Interior. Fall convinced Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby to turn control of the fields to him. Then he leased the Teapot Dome to Harry Sinclair's Mammoth Oil Company and Elk Hills reserve to Edward Doheny's Pan American Petroleum Company. Fall received "gifts" totaling about $100,000. Fall attempted to keep his actions secret but Fall's improvement of life led to suspicion. The scandal was revealed to the public in 1924 after findings of a commitee of the U.S. Senate. Thomas J. Walsh, Democrat from Montana, was the individual within the U.S. Senate that took charge of the investigation of Fall's wrongdoing.
The consequences of the scandal were that in 1927 the Supreme Court ruled the oil leases had been corruptly obtained and invalidated the Elk Hills lease in February and the Teapot Dome lease in October of the same year. The navy regained control of the reserves. Albert Fall was found guilty of bribery in 1929. He was fined $100,000 and spent 1 year in prison. Harry Sinclair was charged wih contempt and received a short sentence for tampering with the jury. Edward Doheny was acqitted in 1930 for attempting to bribe Fall. The scandal was a major issue of the presidential electionof 1924 and it showed the corruption of American politicians.