1 jan 1923 ano - Teapot Dorne Scandal

Descrição:

Teapot Dome:Nickname for scandal in which Interior Secretary Albert Fall accepted $300,000 in bribes for leasing oil reserves on public land in Teapot Dome, Wyoming. It was part of a larger pattern of corruption that marred Warren G. Harding’s presidency.


Other changes were afoot in Washington, D.C. Lobbying Congress on behalf of business, unions, and other interests was already a long-standing tradition, but the practice became pervasive in the 1920s. Noting the change, one observer joked, “the lobbyists were so thick they were constantly falling over one another.” Hundreds of groups set up offices to lobby members of Congress — from religious and civic organizations to the Anti-Saloon League — but business took the lead. The National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce, and public utilities (water and electric companies), among many other business organizations, assumed an ever-larger role in the legislative process.

Ties between government and corporate interests were not always open, or honest. Corruption was widespread during the Harding years. The worst scandal concerned secret leasing of government oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, to private companies. Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was eventually convicted of taking over $300,000 in bribes and became the first cabinet officer in U.S. history to serve a prison sentence.

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