0:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Hello friend. 0:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to hometown history. 0:10 [SPEAKER_00]: It's no surprise to anyone that sometimes government officials are corrupt, but this scandal will still manage to shock you. 0:21 [SPEAKER_00]: This story involves national security, oil companies, and of course corruption at the highest levels 0:32 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the Teapot Dome scandal. 0:39 [SPEAKER_00]: The Teapot Dome scandal was a major event in American history, unfolding during the 1920s. 0:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The roaring 20 saw post-World War I recovery, an economic prosperity, as well as significant social and cultural changes, and technological advancements. 1:00 [SPEAKER_00]: But beneath this seemingly successful period was a scandal. 1:05 [SPEAKER_00]: From bootleg alcohol all the way to murder suicide cases, this scandal had it all. 1:13 [SPEAKER_00]: But let's start small. 1:18 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1920, Senator Orangey Harding won a long-shot bid for the White House, with the financial support, some powerful friends, who were promised oil-friendly cabinet picks for their oil money. 1:34 [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, Orangey Harding became the 29th president of the United States. 1:41 [SPEAKER_00]: but despite a squeaky clean public persona, Harding was at the center of several personal scandals, including cheating on his wife, and fathering, and illegitimate son. 1:53 [SPEAKER_00]: You can imagine what kind of tone this set for the Harding administration, and this was only the beginning. 2:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Hardy's assent to the presidency was already under dubious circumstances because it was mostly due to the influence of powerful oil bearings like Jack Hammond and Harry Sinclair. 2:16 [SPEAKER_00]: These insanely wealthy and influential men have manipulated the political landscape by essentially buying a candidate who would always favor their interests. 2:28 [SPEAKER_00]: particularly, in gaining access to valuable oil reserves on public lands. 2:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Seems convenient enough, but things did not go according to their plan. 2:42 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the key aspects of Harding's involvement in all of this was his nomination and appointment of friends and puppets to keep positions in his cabinet 2:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of this, his cabinet was referred to as the Ohio gang. 3:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert B. 3:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Fall, for example, was appointed a secretary of the interior by hearting himself. 3:09 [SPEAKER_00]: It would be Albert's job to receive all payments from oil corporations and exchange for exclusive rights to drill for oil on federal territory. 3:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Something Albert played a huge role in securing, 3:24 [SPEAKER_00]: In a piece of land near a teapot shaped outcrop in Wyoming, called the teapot dome, was among the choices, along with elk hills and grain of vista hills in California. 3:40 [SPEAKER_00]: According to a testimony to the Senate Committee, the Geng's unofficial headquarters was the 3:52 [SPEAKER_00]: The home was rented by Harding's Attorney General, Harry Dottre, Jesse Smith, who was believed to have sold bonded liquor to bootleggers, and Harding's presidential campaign director, Howard Mannington. 4:08 [SPEAKER_00]: The president's willingness to surround himself with people of questionable integrity, and his failure to prevent corruption within his administration, contributed significantly 4:23 [SPEAKER_00]: But, it was all not that conscious, at least for harding. 4:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though he is usually associated with the T-Pod Dumb's Handle, it's important to remember he was never found directly to be involved in the corrupt activities that took place. 4:41 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, during his presidency, hardening aimed to promote a return to normalcy after World War I. 4:49 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a very strong or controversial stance to take, but that's why his campaign was about. 4:56 [SPEAKER_00]: He advocated for less government intervention and wanted economic growth and stability. 5:03 [SPEAKER_00]: So he always had good intentions, 5:11 [SPEAKER_00]: The other players involved in his election to the White House were driven by self-interest. 5:17 [SPEAKER_00]: And unfortunately for harding, he was now the puppet of men who are ready to manipulate the entire political system and exploit the nation's resources. 5:28 [SPEAKER_00]: And among these resources was the T-Pot-Dome Oil Reserve owned by the public and known 5:38 [SPEAKER_00]: This made them valuable assets for the United States, especially after the damaging effects of World War I. 5:47 [SPEAKER_00]: These reserves and Wyoming were considered one of the largest oil fields in the U.S. at the time. 5:55 [SPEAKER_00]: So the reserves were set aside at the request of the United States Navy. 6:00 [SPEAKER_00]: The thing here was that the Navy had been converting coal-powered ships to oil-powered ones since 1909, and as the number of such vessels increased significantly, officials wanted to make sure there would be enough oil available in the event of a war or other emergency. 6:20 [SPEAKER_00]: But, T-Pot-Dome, with its hundreds of millions of barrels of publicly owned oil, became 6:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Now as I mentioned, Albert Fall was appointed as Secretary of the Interior in 1921 by President Harding. 6:40 [SPEAKER_00]: But even before that appointment, Albert was making back room deals with oil interests, campaigning for balancing the interests of conservation and development. 6:52 [SPEAKER_00]: There were several discussions at the time between the benefits of conserving natural resources and the benefits of enabling large-scale development with oil. 7:03 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's no surprise that once Albert was appointed, the scales tipped in favor of development. 7:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert was a politically powerful senator, lawyer, minor and rancher, like harding and his other powerful friends. 7:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert also enjoyed a good game of poker. 7:26 [SPEAKER_00]: They had enough common ground and friends that he was able to convince harding to transfer supervision of the patrolling and reserves to him. 7:35 [SPEAKER_00]: A task initially assigned to the Navy, 7:40 [SPEAKER_00]: This was a strong move, and after he was successful in the transfer, Albert started secret and obviously corrupt dealings, with Jake Hammond and Harry Sinclair, the same people who had brought hardening to power, and that decision was really paying off. 8:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert managed to secure exclusive drilling rights to the entire T-Pot dome site for the mammoth oil company, which was owned by Harry Sinclair. 8:14 [SPEAKER_00]: There was no competitive bidding, or public disclosure of this, obviously, which was supposed to be there as part of a legal process, but it hardly stopped there. 8:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert also leased two deposits in California, to the Pan-American Petroleum Company, which was owned by Edward Dohini, another old acquaintance of his. 8:41 [SPEAKER_00]: He was assigning projects to his friends, like it was his land, out the publics. 8:49 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's where his decisions started to cost the taxpayers. 8:53 [SPEAKER_00]: These three sites were estimated to contain oil that was worth millions of dollars. 8:59 [SPEAKER_00]: And you would think that Albert's favors come at a hefty price. 9:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Some lofty donations to public charities were at least more money paid to the government to balance the scales and give back to the public. 9:15 [SPEAKER_00]: But it didn't quite work out that way. 9:18 [SPEAKER_00]: In return, all St. Clair and Dohini had to do was fulfill some minor obligations to the government. 9:27 [SPEAKER_00]: These included constructing an oil storage facility at the Naval Base and Pearl Harbor and building a pipeline from Wyoming to Kansas City. 9:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Things that don't exactly make up for huge swaths of land snatched away from the American taxpayer, 9:46 [SPEAKER_00]: By April 1922, rumors began surfacing that a shady deal relating to these oil sites had gone down. 9:58 [SPEAKER_00]: It started when local Wyoming oilmen started noticing trucks with this enclair logo, bringing oil field equipment up to T-Pot dome. 10:10 [SPEAKER_00]: And then, the news was published in the Wall Street Journal on April 14, 1922. 10:16 [SPEAKER_00]: It read, Sinclair consolidated and big oil deal with US. 10:24 [SPEAKER_00]: I would say the headline downplayed the true impact of this scandal, and it wasn't nearly as explosive as the article itself, which detailed the deal between the US government and 10:41 [SPEAKER_00]: This deal granted Sinclair, exclusive drilling rights to the T-pot dome Naval Oil Reserve in Wyoming, estimated to hold millions of barrels a valuable oil. 10:54 [SPEAKER_00]: In this confirmation shattered, the public's trust in the government and revealed the extent of corruption within the highest levels of power, which made sense, considering how they trusted their president to prevent something like this from happening. 11:14 [SPEAKER_00]: This would clearly lead to devastating effects on the economy that was only starting to recover 11:24 [SPEAKER_00]: More than that, a highlight of the influence that big businesses and wealthy people can have on the government. 11:32 [SPEAKER_00]: We're elected politicians, really trustworthy, able to keep aside their own personal agendas for the betterment of the country. 11:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Or were they only acquiring positions of power to share the country's resources with friends and family? 11:50 [SPEAKER_00]: A question, I guess. 11:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Every single democratic country must ask. 11:59 [SPEAKER_00]: The day after the scandal broke in the papers, while only democratic senator, John Kendrick presented a resolution to launch a Senate investigation into the backroom dealings. 12:12 [SPEAKER_00]: This was the start of one of the most significant criminal investigations in Senate history. 12:18 [SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, elsewhere, Albert Fall was battling another problem at work. 12:25 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the people who had backed Harding at the time of his election, Colonel James G. Darden, was now claiming first dibs on the T-pot dome site, and in a desperate attempt to handle the situation, Albert persuaded a hesitant president Harding to order the US Marines 12:50 [SPEAKER_00]: When the Denver Post's publishers learned of this conflict and the government, they publicized it, and used threats of more scathing editorials about T.P.D. 13:01 [SPEAKER_00]: to blackmail St. Clair, and to paying a million dollars to them. 13:06 [SPEAKER_00]: And another oilman who fell cheated by the T.P.D. 13:09 [SPEAKER_00]: police. 13:11 [SPEAKER_00]: President Harding, who is now understandably afraid of more negative press, also pushed Sinclair to pay off the publishers and the oilman. 13:22 [SPEAKER_00]: But at this point, one thing was clear. 13:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Both the president and Albert Fall had bitten off more than they could chew. 13:31 [SPEAKER_00]: One corrupt decision was now snowballing. 13:40 [SPEAKER_00]: In January of 1923, Albert Fall resigned as interior secretary, apparently to spend time on his recently purchased ranch in New Mexico, but more likely it was to participate in lucrative oil negotiations in Mexico and the Soviet Union for both Doheny and Sinclair. 14:04 [SPEAKER_00]: He might have been out of the cabinet, with the Senate investigations into the T-pot dome continued. 14:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Legal actions were initiated against key figures involved in the scandal, led by Thomas Walsh. 14:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Exposing illicit dealings, within the highest levels of the U.S. government. 14:25 [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, many members of Harding's Cabinet faced legal actions and accusations of corruption. 14:33 [SPEAKER_00]: But the primary focus was Albert Fall. 14:38 [SPEAKER_00]: He was the one who had played a pivotal role in the scandal, and executed most of the deals for the oil barons. 14:46 [SPEAKER_00]: This marked a significant moment in history. 14:49 [SPEAKER_00]: as he became the first cabinet member in U.S. history to be incarcerated for crimes committed while in office. 14:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, you wasn't the only one involved. 15:02 [SPEAKER_00]: The legal proceedings extended to Harry Sinclair and Edward Doany, and they both faced trials in civil as well as criminal courts. 15:12 [SPEAKER_00]: In civil proceedings, the outcomes were favorable to the government. 15:16 [SPEAKER_00]: with the teapot dome and California leases, declared void and canceled, returning those lands to the rightful hands of the public, but the criminal proceedings went a little bit differently. 15:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite an overwhelming amount of evidence, both Dohini and Sinclair were released of bribery charges, which sadly was no surprise, because the public had already lost faith in the US justice system. 15:47 [SPEAKER_00]: It seems we have always had a problem with holding wealthy or influential people accountable. 15:55 [SPEAKER_00]: It's sadder, because St. Clair was actually found trying to bribe the jury, and tamper with them. 16:03 [SPEAKER_00]: And though he was found guilty of that, he was only fined and sentenced to six and a half months in prison. 16:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Where he served as prisoner numbered 1-0-5-2-0 at the district of Columbia, jail, before getting his normal life back. 16:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite all of the investigations and trials, the people most responsible for damage to the environment and public property didn't serve their time. 16:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Continuing the abuse of power in the government, this incident might have prompted officials to speak about transparency and integrity, but it didn't lead to actionable steps. 16:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Later in June 1923, President Harding embarked on a cross-country journey that included his first presidential visit to Alaska. 16:58 [SPEAKER_00]: During his four-day boat trip, he asked the future president Herbert Hoover, quote, if you knew of a great scandal in our administration, would you expose it publicly or bury it for the good of the country and the party? 17:14 [SPEAKER_00]: In response, Hoover said that he recommended the President reveal it, because it would be the ethical route, but harding apparently rejected it due to political ramifications. 17:28 [SPEAKER_00]: After all, he had personally approved Albert Falls idea, to lease the oil deposits. 17:36 [SPEAKER_00]: In that meant that he was just as responsible for initiating the corruption, and apparently that was not all he was guilty of. 17:46 [SPEAKER_00]: I did mention that there was no initial evidence to show that Harding have participated in the dealings. 17:53 [SPEAKER_00]: It seems I spoke too soon. 17:55 [SPEAKER_00]: There was some amount of evidence confirming that Harding may have benefited from the corrupt dealings, even if he was not personally responsible for them. 18:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Just before leaving on his cross-country tour, Harding accepted an unusually high bid to buy the Marion Star, Harding's newspaper, in a deal arranged by Sinclair. 18:21 [SPEAKER_00]: The president and his wife, Florence Harding, also told their acquaintances, about a year-long, all expenses paid cruise around the world, that they plan to take with 50 of their friends, 18:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Sinclair was likely funding that whole adventure, which would take place on his own luxury yacht. 18:47 [SPEAKER_00]: That hint of extravagance in their lifestyle did make people suspicious of the source of their wealth. 18:55 [SPEAKER_00]: A president, after all, does it earn enough money to find lavish trips or rent out a luxury yacht for a whole year? 19:05 [SPEAKER_00]: But even with all that, Harding and his wife did not actually have the chance to take advantage of their new fortune. 19:14 [SPEAKER_00]: It seems he started experiencing cramps in shortness of breath after returning from his Alaskan cruise. 19:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Harding died on August 2, 1923 at the age of 57, in San Francisco's Palace Hotel. 19:31 [SPEAKER_00]: The cause of death was identified as a stroke initially, but some doctors suggested a heart attack was the more likely cause, suggestive of the toll the entire ordeal took on him. 19:47 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other side, Albert Fall was still under the microscope, for all his dealings during his time as a cabinet member, 19:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Under President Calvin Coolidge's new leadership, two special prosecutors, one Democrat and one Republican, to keep it fair, were appointed to oversee the probe. 20:10 [SPEAKER_00]: The investigation would soon discover that Albert had obtained a $100,000 interest-free loan, from oil-man-do-heany, in order to purchase land for his massive New Mexico Ranch. 20:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Dohini revealed to the Senate in a statement that he had arranged for his son Ned Dohini and his friend, Hugh Plunkett, to deliver the money personally to Albert. 20:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Investigations also revealed that Sinclair transferred a huge herd of sheep to his ranch and had his company transfer approximately $300,000 in Liberty bonds and cash to Albert's 20:52 [SPEAKER_00]: These seemed like huge sums of money, and they were. 20:56 [SPEAKER_00]: But these amounts pale and contrast to the hundreds of millions of dollars, the oil men were making, from the Wyoming and California oil reserves. 21:07 [SPEAKER_00]: They were making a clear profit, and they knew that coming into this game. 21:14 [SPEAKER_00]: In a Senate testimony, Albert claimed that he chose to keep the least agreement secret in order to safeguard the locations of key natural resources, and to prevent oilmen from secretly draining the government's sides through nearby production operations. 21:32 [SPEAKER_00]: It was clearly a desperate attempt to keep matters contained, but the fact is those 21:41 [SPEAKER_00]: and he had no business keeping dealings of that land a secret. 21:46 [SPEAKER_00]: And the Senate investigators were not new to these gimmicks. 21:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert Fall was eventually convicted of accepting a bribe from Duhini in the fall of 1929. 21:58 [SPEAKER_00]: He was fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison. 22:04 [SPEAKER_00]: A hundred thousand dollars in comparison to what Albert earned is nothing. 22:11 [SPEAKER_00]: but it was a step in the right direction at the very least. 22:15 [SPEAKER_00]: That is, if it actually happened. 22:19 [SPEAKER_00]: In reality, Albert's fine was waived, because he had lost all of his ill-gotten wealth by the time he was penalized. 22:28 [SPEAKER_00]: In Doohini had foreclosed on his new Mexico ranch. 22:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Albert ended up staying in prison for only nine months before being released due to declining health. 22:41 [SPEAKER_00]: After a long illness, he died in 1944, all that money and it couldn't save him. 22:52 [SPEAKER_00]: And then, there was one. 22:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Dohini. 22:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Dohini was also lucky, as he was found not guilty of offering bribes, since both he and Albert claimed the sun was really alone. 23:07 [SPEAKER_00]: But he couldn't celebrate just yet. 23:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Before the verdict came down, Dohini's son was shot and killed, and the family's luxurious, new Beverly Hills mansion. 23:20 [SPEAKER_00]: The news was sad itself, but what made it worse was finding out who did it. 23:26 [SPEAKER_00]: An investigation revealed that the killer was his long-time friend, Hugh Plunkett, who later possibly out of guilt killed himself. 23:39 [SPEAKER_00]: It's possible that Plunkett got scared that authorities would charge him and Ned Dohini for delivering the huge bag of cash to Albert at his ranch. 23:50 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a clear indication that things were starting to get messier than anyone had expected 23:57 [SPEAKER_00]: So, what happened to those oil reserves? 24:02 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the Supreme Court invalidated the suspect oil licenses in 1927. 24:08 [SPEAKER_00]: In production at T. Potdome and the California locations was stopped. 24:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Oil was eventually tapped at elk hills under newly established agreements between the federal government and the oil business 24:28 [SPEAKER_00]: During the 1970s energy crisis, all naval oil stores were tapped to full production. 24:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Later, under President Bill Clinton, Congress authorized the sale of the LKL's oil site to the highest bidder in 1995. 24:47 [SPEAKER_00]: As part of a larger push to delegate some federal functions to private businesses, 24:53 [SPEAKER_00]: The Occidental Petroleum Company had taken over production at the site by 1998. 24:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Then, in January 2015, the Department of Energy sold the infamous T-Pot Dome Reserve. 25:07 [SPEAKER_00]: This time, ethically, after a bidding process, as should have been followed by President Harding. 25:17 [SPEAKER_00]: After producing 22 million barrels of oil, and making $569 million for the U.S. government, T-Pot-Done was sold for $45.2 million to the stranded oil resources corporation. 25:35 [SPEAKER_00]: With time, the scandal of T-Pot-Done faded away. 25:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Today's episode shows us that one enduring impact of the T-pot dump scandal was the exposure of vulnerabilities in the American political system. 25:56 [SPEAKER_00]: In highlighted the dangers of allowing private interests like wealthy oil barons to influence political decisions for personal gain. 26:06 [SPEAKER_00]: The scandal eventually prompted reforms and increased scrutiny over government actions 26:13 [SPEAKER_00]: If fueled a desire for transparency and accountability, pushing for legislation and regulations, to prevent such abuse of power from happening again. 26:27 [SPEAKER_00]: With this, I want to just emphasize the broader significance of T-pop dome, highlighting that it wasn't just about political corruption, but a blatant attempt to seize public 26:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to hometown history, and be sure to follow along for more stories from the past.
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