Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

=== Teapot Dome ===
{{Main article|Teapot Dome scandal}}
[[File:Albert B. Fall c. 1923.jpg|thumb|right|[[Albert B. Fall]], Harding's first Secretary of the Interior, became the first former cabinet member to be sent to prison for crimes committed in office.]]
The scandal which has likely done the greatest damage to Harding's reputation is [[Teapot Dome scandal|Teapot Dome]]. Like most of the administration's scandals, it came to light after Harding's death, and he was not aware of the illegal aspects. Teapot Dome involved an oil reserve in Wyoming which was one of three set aside for use by the Navy in a national emergency. There was a longstanding argument that the reserves should be developed; Wilson's first Interior Secretary [[Franklin Knight Lane]] was an advocate of this position. When the Harding administration took office, Interior Secretary Fall took up Lane's argument and Harding signed an executive order in May 1921 transferring the reserves from the Navy Department to Interior. This was done with the consent of [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Navy Secretary]] [[Edwin C. Denby]].{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=107}}{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=183, 185}}

The Interior Department announced in July 1921 that [[Edward Doheny]] had been awarded a lease to drill along the edges of the [[Elk Hills Oil Field|Elk Hills]] naval reserve in California. The announcement attracted little controversy, as the oil would have been lost to wells on adjacent private land.{{sfn|Noggle|pp=254–256}} Wyoming Senator [[John B. Kendrick|John Kendrick]] had heard from constituents that Teapot Dome had also been leased, but no announcement had been made. The Interior Department refused to provide documentation, so he secured the passage of a Senate resolution compelling disclosure. The department sent a copy of the Teapot Dome lease granting drilling rights to [[Harry Ford Sinclair|Harry Sinclair]]'s [[Mammoth Oil Company]], along with a statement that there had been no competitive bidding because military preparedness was involved—Mammoth was to build oil tanks for the Navy as part of the deal. This satisfied some people, but some conservationists, such as [[Gifford Pinchot]], [[Harry A. Slattery]], and others, pushed for a full investigation into Fall and his activities. They got Wisconsin Senator [[Robert M. La Follette]] to begin a Senate investigation into the oil leases. La Follette persuaded Democratic Montana Senator [[Thomas J. Walsh]] to lead the investigation, and Walsh read through the truckload of material provided by the Interior Department through 1922 into 1923. The documents included a letter from Harding stating that the transfer and leases had been with his knowledge and approval.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=463–465}}

Hearings into Teapot Dome began in October 1923, two months after Harding's death. Fall had left office earlier that year, and he denied receiving any money from Sinclair or Doheny; Sinclair agreed. The following month, Walsh learned that Fall had spent lavishly on expanding and improving his New Mexico ranch. Fall reappeared and said that the money had come as a loan from Harding's friend and ''[[Washington Post]]'' publisher [[Edward B. McLean]], but McLean denied it when he testified. Doheny told the committee that he had given Fall the money in cash as a personal loan out of regard for their past association, but Fall [[Taking the Fifth|invoked his Fifth Amendment]] right against self-incrimination when he was compelled to appear again, rather than answer questions.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=465–471}}

Investigators found that Fall and a relative had received a total of about $400,000 from Doheny and Sinclair, and that the transfers were contemporaneous with the controversial leases.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=471–472}} Fall was convicted in 1929 of accepting bribes, and in 1931 became the first U.S. cabinet member to be imprisoned for crimes committed in office.{{sfn|Russell|pp=497–498}} Sinclair was convicted only of [[contempt of court]] for [[jury tampering]]. Doheny was brought to trial before a jury in April 1930 for giving the bribe that Fall had been convicted of accepting, but he was acquitted.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=472}}