Oil Industry In The 1920s Essay

The 1920s were a time of dramatic change in the United States after the end of WWI. There was a boom in culture, the economy, and the morality of the country. One business that was booming was the oil industry. The demand for oil was increasing because of the use of new transportation methods being used in WWI. The oil companies were trying to keep up with the demand and were always on the search for new reserves for oil wells. This was where Warren G. Harding, a previous Ohio governor and senator, came in. Harding ran for president against James M. Cox in 1920. Harding won with the help of oil barons and gave them hope that he would give them more access to federal reserves for oil drilling. Harding’s presidency brought a lot of corruption

The Teapot Dome scandal was a turning point because it influenced the government to start taking cases seriously because the courts realized how important it is to know all the facts of a case. In 1922, Albert Fall, Secretary of the Interior appointed by Harding, made a deal with Harry Sinclair in secret. When news broke out about this scandal, the senate started investigating. They heard from many witnesses and the investigations continued, but it lost momentum as the public started to lose interest. Coolidge then appointed a special council to investigate the case and their investigations carried on for several years, investigating many different people. The Senate’s original reaction to this case showed how the government didn’t care that much to find out details about cases. However, this did start to change under president Coolidge when he appointed a special council to investigate. They attempted to investigate as much as possible, but they still didn’t have all the resources needed (like

After word got out about the Teapot Dome scandal, the Senate started investigating the scandal. Thomas J. Walsh was one of the chairmen on the case. An image created by Gluyas Williams depicts senators Walsh and Lenroot in the foreground and the rest of the senators behind them yelling and looking very mad and disorganized. This image shows how disorganized the Senate was after the scandal and how they weren’t sure how to respond. The republicans held the majority in the 1920s, when these investigations were taking place, so some of the Senators may have agreed with Fall and some may have absolutely hated him. This created chaos and disagreement in the Senate. Similarly, a few years later, in 1929, another scandal broke out. This scandal was about the murder of oil baron Edward Doheny’s son, Ned Doheny. After investigation, it was believed that Hugh Plunkett, Ned’s secretary, shot Ned and then shot himself, but the case is still a mystery to this day. The case dropped off because Doheny still had a lot of power, but there was still speculation in the public. This case shows how the government continued to disagree on how to handle scandals and let someone in power limit the investigations. The government probably didn’t want to have to investigate another scandal, as they were still