The Cabinet Member Who Sold Out the Oil Reserves

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:00]No one in Washington expected that Albert B. Fall would, the mildmannered secretary of the interior under President Warren G. Harding, become the architect of one of the worst corruption scandals in American history. In 1921 to22, Fall quietly secured transfers of Navy oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, California, then leased them to private companies controlled by magnates Harry Sinclair and Edward Dohaney. In exchange, he received hidden loans, cash, and gifts payments concealed behind shell transactions. For years, the leases were hidden, but investigative pressure mounted. Senator Thomas J. Walsh's Senate committee peeled back the paperwork, uncovering secret deals and payments, notably a reputed $100,000 from Dhaney. The public recoil was visceral. The Supreme Court voided the leases in 1927, and in 1929, Fall was convicted of accepting bribes, fined, and imprisoned the first US cabinet member to serve jail time for corruption. The Teapot Dome Affair exposed how private influence could hijack public resources and shattered many Americans faith in their leaders, sparking calls for greater oversight and a harder look at how power and money quietly traded hands in the nation's Capital.