Teapot Dome Scandal Case Study

The Teapot Dome Scandal and the Presidency Warren G. Harding was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio in 1865 and had a simple background growing up. After going to a small two-year college, which helped him prepare for his career in the newspaper industry, he bought the failing Marion newspaper and was able to turn it into a successful business. Harding would eventually find his way into politics and worked his way to becoming the 29 president of the United States. At the state level he was elected to two terms in the Ohio state Senate and also served one term as the Lieutenant Governor. In 1914, he was able to win a seat to the US Senate. Then in 1920 after serving his term as Senator, Harding somehow found his way into the Republican National Convention

Once in his position of secretary of Interior he will persuade Harding to allow the navy oil reserves to come under the control of the Department of the Interior. Fall believed that the department was more equipped to oversee the oil reserves. This would then lead into what is known as Teapot Dome Scandal. Fall now with the control over the oil reserves would make some secret deals with two prominent oilmen. Edward Doheny and Harry Sinclair, who were close friends to Fall and would bribe him for the opportunity to drill on the oil reserves. An oilman and later governor to the state of Wyoming, Leslie Miller will become suspicious when he saw trucks with the Sinclair logo carrying equipment to drill into Teapot Dome oil reserve. Leslie Miller will ask Wyoming Senator John Kendrick to look into the matter. In April 1922, the Senate will unanimously authorize the Committee on Public Lands to start an investigation into the matter. President Harding will just ignore or dismiss these allegations of wrongdoing. Instead, Harding will take a 1,500 mile trip to Alaska that will last around two months. During the trip Harding will become more withdrawn and in San Francisco will take to his bed in exhaustion and it will worsen during the night. He will die from either a heart attack or stroke on August 2, 1923. His health had been in decline and complained of chest pain

He has been ranked one of the worst presidents in American history because of his administration and the corruption and scandals under him. From the last seven surveys conducted by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Harding has been ranked last by both liberal and conservative historians and this trend follows in other presidential ranking surveys. President Harding is overlooked on his actual accomplishment while in office because of the association with the scandals. Harding had helped stabilize the economy and set way to the “Roaring Twenties” and the establishment of the Bureau of the Budget. The economic growth and prosperity was partly caused by his ability to cut spending by the use of the Washington Naval Conference of 1921. This conference had the major naval powers coming together and claiming that they would then reduce the size of their navies. By doing this Harding was also able to cut the tax rates. This was part of his more pro-business and industry efforts. Harding was also more involved in the civil rights issues than former President Wilson. He would gives speeches on the matter and appointed some African-Americans to government positions. The problem with Harding and his administration was his view on the presidency. He viewed it as more of a figurehead role instead of a leadership position. This might have been a reaction to the more ideal Wilson and how he ran the government. However, this hurt his