The background of the Teapot Dome Scandal goes back to conversations between Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. They asked to created naval petroleum reservations in the states of California and Wyoming. Three pieces of public land had been reserved to be only used in case of an emergency. The three pieces of land were the Buena Vista Hills, Elk Hills, and the Teapot Dome. Buena Vista Hills and Elk Hills are located in California, but the Teapot Dome is in Wyoming. Many people did not like how restricted the oil supplies were and that is how the scandal started.Senator Albert B. Fall hated the restrictions. He became Secretary of the Interior and one thing that he did was talk the Secretary of the Navy into turning the oil fields over to him. After taking control of the oil fields he leased the Teapot Dome land to the Mammoth Oil Company. After doing this he got over $400,000 in cash and loans. The public found out about Albert B. Fall getting the money in 1924. He was later convicted of bribery, in 1929, which made him the first person found guilty of a felony while being in the cabinet post.
The attention that this scandal caused was the first sign of government corruption. However, this scandal showed how important it is to take care of our natural resources. There were a lot of civil suits filed that were directly related to the scandal following the public finding out. The Supreme Court said the Teapot Dome lease was obtained in the wrong way, which showed corruption.I think that the Teapot Dome Scandal was a very infamous part of our country’s history. I think that Albert B. Fall did this whole thing for his own well being, when he should have been protecting the people of the United States. I agree that it was wrong that the oil supplies were being restricted, but it was a good way of conserving natural resources. This was a great example of how corrupt our government can be if they want money bad enough.
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