Essay On The Teapot Dome Scandal

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Amazingly, it is not until President Nixon and his involvement in the Watergate scandal that the Teapot Dome scandal finally takes a backseat as being notoriously known for the biggest political scandal in U.S. history. This paper will illustrate how and why one man in the oil industry could so easily manipulate the presidential election of 1920 in order to set up important cabinet appointments that will enable him and a few others, to reap millions. In addition, there will be important points on a select few people and their contribution, not only to the Teapot Dome scandal, but also to the 1920 presidential nominee, Warren G. Harding. Not only did this scandal involve President Harding, but it also included Albert B. Fall, former Senator of New Mexico, Harry Daugherty, Jake Hamon of Oklahoma, along with Secretary of the Navy - Edwin Denby, the founder of Sinclair Oil – Harry Sinclair, and finally, oil tycoon Edward Doheny. This paper will also illustrate how President Harding was a “sitting duck” due to the greed and premeditated planning of just two men.
To begin with, an explanation of how this became known as the “Teapot Dome” scandal is needed. The name Teapot Dome comes from a rock formation that looks like a teapot in a large area of land in Wyoming which was set aside as part of the U.S. Naval oil reserve. Under the Picket Act of 1910, President Taft set aside this land in addition to two others in California as reserves. It was believed that huge deposits of petroleum were located in these places that the Navy was to always have on reserve in the event of war or a national emergency. But where there is oil, there is money and never far behind, corruption. Unfortunately for President Harding, this oil reserv...

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...ess time for the corruption brought on by one man with a plan and carried out by a few men with a hunger for more money to manipulate one man that had no real, true plan to be the President of the United States. Once Hamon’s plan took root, it only took about a year for planning, less than a year to have the “right” people in position, and about one year for the actual deed of drilling on the Naval oil reserve. Yet, it took a large amount of people investigating a case of so few, six years to complete the hearings. Water and oil do not mix just like politicians and big oil companies should not. The end result will always be one, nasty mess that no one wants to wash their hands in. Unfortunately, history has proven itself, The Teapot Dome scandal in 1922, and the Watergate scandal in 1972. If this continues, the next major political scandal will happen in 2022.

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