Teapot Dome Scandal Essay

A scandal is categorized as “an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage”(oxford dictionary). There have been several scandals exposed throughout U.S. history and each have made their mark on history and led to their own respective reforms and outcomes. Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States and like most other U.S. presidents he was an incredibly bright individual. In fact, he was third in his class in highschool and was offered a tuition grant to attend Harvard University however he had to decline because he was needed at home. This didn't stop him from becoming an outstanding law student and Graduating third in his class on a full ride scholarship from duke law school. Nixon

In fact, there have been several scandals which have directly impacted the U.S. and its history. Not the least of these scandals is the Teapot Dome Scandal also known as the oil reserves scandal or elk hills scandal and is one of the bigger scandals in U.S. history. The Teapot Dome scandal occurred in the early 1920s and consisted of secret leasing of federal oil reserves by Albert Bacon Fall, the secretary of the interior. Once President Harding gave supervision of the naval oil-reserve lands from the navy to the Department of the Interior in 1921, Fall secretly granted Oil companies exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome reserves in Wyoming. This quote talks about the outcome of the scandal for the accomplices saying “Eventually, the investigation uncovered Secretary Fall's shady dealings, and Senator Walsh became a national hero. Fall would end up as the first former cabinet officer to go to prison. This and a subsequent Senate inquiry triggered several court cases testing the extent of the Senate's investigative powers.” Nixon was pardoned of all of his charges which means you could argue the Teapot Dome had worse consequences however I think Nixon's pardon plays a role in why the scandal was so corrupt, instead Nixon’s reputation reaped most of the consequences even though the Watergate made a larger impact on America. A quote which sums up the political effect of this scandal says “Though “Teapot Dome” entered the American political vocabulary as a synonym for governmental corruption, the scandal had little long-term effect on the Republican Party. Calvin Coolidge, a Republican, was elected president in 1924.” . Like any scandal it had an impact but it clearly was not significant enough to change very much from a political standpoint. Of course any government scandal is going to raise eyes and have significance when it comes to reform but the teapot dome scandal didn't have the same public