Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

=== Veterans' Bureau ===
[[File:Cforbes.jpg|thumb|left|[[Charles R. Forbes]], director of the Veterans' Bureau, who was sent to prison for defrauding the government]]
[[Charles R. Forbes]], the energetic director of the [[Veterans' Bureau]], sought to consolidate control of veterans' hospitals and their construction in his bureau. At the start of Harding's presidency, this power was vested in the Treasury Department. The politically powerful [[American Legion]] backed Forbes and denigrated those who opposed him, like Secretary Mellon, and in April 1922, Harding agreed to transfer control to the Veterans' Bureau.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=459–460}} Forbes' main task was to ensure that new hospitals were built around the country to help the 300,000 wounded World War I veterans.{{sfn|Adams|p=287}}

Near the beginning of 1922, Forbes had met Elias Mortimer, agent for the Thompson-Black Construction Company of St. Louis, which wanted to construct the hospitals. The two men became close, and Mortimer paid for Forbes' travels through the West, looking at potential hospital sites for the wounded World War I veterans. Forbes was also friendly with Charles F. Hurley, owner of the Hurley-Mason Construction Company of Washington state.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=460}} Harding had ordered that all contracts be pursuant to public notice,{{sfn|Russell|p=526}} but Forbes and the contractors worked out a deal whereby the two companies would get the contracts with the profits divided three ways. Some of the money went to the bureau's chief counsel, Charles F. Cramer.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=460}} Forbes defrauded the government, increasing construction costs from $3,000 to $4,000 per bed.{{sfn|Russell|p=525}} A tenth of the inflated construction billings were set aside for the conspirators, with Forbes receiving a third of the take.{{sfn|Ferrell|loc=2369}} The graft then spread to land acquisition, with Forbes authorizing the purchase of a San Francisco tract worth less than $20,000 for $105,000. At least $25,000 of the resulting financial excess was divided between Forbes and Cramer.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=460}}

[[File:Charles E. Sawyer (1920).jpg|thumb|right|[[Charles E. Sawyer]]]]

Intent on making more money, Forbes in November 1922 began selling valuable hospital supplies warehoused under his control at the Perryville Depot in Maryland.{{sfn|Adams|pp=289, 292}} The government had stockpiled huge quantities of hospital supplies during the first World War, which Forbes unloaded for a fraction of their cost to the Boston firm of Thompson and Kelly, at a time when the Veterans' Bureau was buying supplies for the hospitals at a much higher price.{{sfn|Russell|pp=524–525}}

The check on Forbes' authority at Perryville was Dr. Sawyer, Harding's physician and chairman of the Federal Hospitalization Board.{{sfn|Adams|pp=232, 292, 294}} Sawyer told Harding that Forbes was selling valuable hospital supplies to an insider contractor.{{sfn|Adams|p=294}} At first Harding did not believe it, but Sawyer secured proof in January 1923.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=182}} A shocked Harding, who alternated between rage and despondency over the corruption in his administration, summoned Forbes to the White House and demanded his resignation. Harding did not want an open scandal and allowed Forbes to flee to Europe, from where he resigned on February 15, 1923. In spite of Harding's efforts, gossip about Forbes' activities resulted in the Senate ordering an investigation two weeks later,{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=103}} and in mid-March, Cramer committed suicide.{{sfn|Russell|p=563}}

Mortimer was willing to tell all, as Forbes had been in an affair with his wife, which also broke up the Forbes's marriage. The construction executive was the star witness at the hearings in late 1923, after Harding's death. Forbes returned from Europe to testify, but convinced few, and in 1924, he and John W. Thompson, of Thompson–Black, were tried in Chicago for conspiracy to defraud the government. Both were convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Forbes began to serve his sentence in 1926; Thompson, who had a bad heart, died that year before commencing his.{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=106–107}} According to Trani and Wilson, "One of the most troublesome aspects of the Harding presidency was that he appeared to be far more concerned with political liabilities of a scandal than in securing justice."{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=182}}