Teapot Dome Scandal

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The early part of the 1920s were characterized by corruption and scandal; government officials of the highest levels of power in the United States were involved in great displays of political corruption. Attorney General Harry Daugherty and Veterans' Bureau Director Charles Forbes, close friends of President Warren Harding, were just a couple of those involved in scandals. Daugherty was frequently found guilty of accepting large amounts of money from former clients of his in order to protect them for prosecution by the federal government. Forbes, the director of the Veterans Bureau, secretly dealt with contractors, selling them government land for a mere fraction of what it was worth. Ultimately, he was jailed for his actions. However, in what was the greatest display of government corruption in the United States until the Watergate Scandal of the 1970s, was the Teapot Dome Scandal; this event epitomized politics of this time period. During the early twentieth century, when Roosevelt was president, officials in the Navy Department began to aspire for a navy that was able to sail all of …show more content…
Within just a few weeks of being selected for this position, Fall slyly convinced Harding to call for the transfer of the naval petroleum reserves in Elk Hills and Teapot Dome belonging to the Navy, to the Department of the Interior, arguing that he and the department would be a more suitable overseer to ensure that the areas were not to be producing oil, but kept in the case that the Navy needed emergency oil for any wartime duties. Edwin Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, agreed to transfer the reserves and the Teapot Dome oil field was then under the control of Albert Fall. What came about from this became known as the Teapot Dome