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Behind Teapot Dome: Some Personal Insights*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

David H. Stratton
David H. Stratton
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History at Baylor University, Currently at University of Wyoming
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Abstract

Teapot Dome has long stood in the public mind as a conspicuous symbol not only of political corruption but of degenerate business morality as well. An examination of the charges against Albert B. Fall, therefore, though necessarily concerned with political and personal rather than business data, touches the interest of students of business history, whose natural concern lies in identifying the factual basis for incidents which have become part of the folklore of American business.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , Winter 1957 , pp. 385 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1957

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References

1 Copy of keynote speech made at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 13, 1956, by Governor Frank G. Clement of Tennessee, sent to the writer by Clement.

2 E.g., Hicks, John D. and Mowry, George E., A Short History of American Democracy (Boston, 1956), pp. 679–680Google Scholar; Hofstadter, Richard, et al. , The United States; The History of a Republic (Englewood Cuffs, N. J., 1957), pp. 630–631Google Scholar. See also Lubell, Samuel, The Future of American Politics (New York, 1952), p. 239Google Scholar.

3 See Bates, J. Leonard, “The Teapot Dome Scandal and the Election of 1924,” The American Historical Review, Vol. LX (Jan., 1955), pp. 303–322CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Peel, Roy V. and Donnelly, Thomas C., The 1928 Campaign; An Analysis (New York, 1931), pp. 52–71Google Scholar.

4 Hull, Cordell, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (2 vols.; New York, 1948), Vol. I, pp. 114–115Google Scholar.

5 For accounts concerning Fall's life see Stratton, David H., “Albert B. Fall and the Teapot Dome Affair” (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of History, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1955)Google Scholar; by the same author, “President Wilson's Smelling Committee,” The Colorado Quarterly, Vol. V (Autumn, 1956), pp. 164–184Google Scholar, and “New Mexican Machiavellian? The Story of Albert B. Fall,” Montana, The Magazine of Western History, Vol. VII (Oct., 1957), pp. 2–14Google Scholar.

6 The hearings of this committee and its findings are in Senate, U. S., Leases Upon Naval Oil Reserves, Hearings Before the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys Pursuant to S. Res. 282, 294, and 434, 67th Cong., and S. Res. 147, 68th Cong. (Washington, 1924)Google Scholar; Senate, U. S., Leases Upon Naval Oil Reserves, Report No. 794, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. and 2d Sess. (Washington, 1924 and 1925)Google Scholar; Senate, U. S., Leases Upon Naval Oil Reserves, Hearings Before the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., Pursuant to S. Res. 101 (Washington, 1928)Google Scholar; and Senate, U. S., Investigation of Activities of Continental Trading Co., Report No. 1326, 70th Cong., 1st Sess. (Washington, 1928)Google Scholar.

7 Newsweek, Vol. XXIV (Dec. 11, 1944), pp. 38, 40Google Scholar.

8 Ashurst to the writer, Nov. 1, 1956. Senator Ashurst expressed the same opinion at the time the Teapot Dome committee was revealing the ruinous findings. See entry in Ashurst's diary, Jan. 16, 1924. Microfilm copy in University of Arizona Library, Tucson.

9 Lodge to Mrs. Albert B. Fall, Feb. 15 [1922]. This letter is among the correspondence files, papers, and documents held by the Fall family; hereafter cited as Fall Family Papers.

10 Garraty, John A., Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography (New York, 1953), fn. 6, p. 421Google Scholar.

11 Roosevelt to Fall, June 17, 1916; to Bronson Cutting, Aug. 8, 1916, in Morison, Elting E., et al. , eds., The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt (8 vols.; Cambridge, 1951–1954), Vol. VIII, pp. 1065, 1097–1098Google Scholar.

12 Fall to Frank J. Hogan, Sept. 15, 1930, Fall Family Papers.

13 Adams, Samuel Hopkins, Incredible Era; The Life and Times of Warren Gamaliel Harding (Boston, 1939), pp. 303–304Google Scholar.

14 Hoover to Fall, Mar. 12, 1923. Photostat of original, Fall Family Papers.

15 Fall with Magner White, in a series of fifteen articles for the North American Newspaper Alliance, which appeared in July and August of 1931. The final article quoted the Hoover letter verbatim. In the El Paso (Texas) Times, Aug. 2, 1931.

16 Hoover, Herbert, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover (3 vols.; New York, 1951–1952), Vol. II, pp. 47–48Google Scholar; New York Times, Feb. 24, 1952.

17 Walsh to Fall, Feb. 26, 1921, Fall Family Papers.

18 Fall to Mrs. Fall, Feb. 4, 1921, Fall Family Papers.

19 New York Times, Mar. 5, 1921; The Chicago Daily Tribune, Mar. 5, 1921; Associated Press report in The Rocky Mountain News (Denver), Mar. 5, 1921Google Scholar; Congressional Record, 67th Cong., Special Sess., pp. 6–7 (Mar. 4, 1921); Sullivan, Mark, The Twenties, Vol. VI of Our Times: The United States 1900–1925 (6 vols.; New York, 1926–1935), fn. 7, pp. 146–147Google Scholar. Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin may have intended to oppose Fall's appointment had not President Harding's surprise appearance happened. Belle, C. and Follette, Fola La, Robert M. La Follette (2 vols.; New York, 1953), Vol. II, pp. 1024, 1041Google Scholar.

20 Shankland, Robert, Steve Mather of the National Parks (New York, 1951), pp. 221–224Google Scholar; Lord, Russell, The Wallaces of Iowa (Boston, 1947), pp. 225–229Google Scholar; New York Times, Mar. 12, 1922; Yard, Robert Sterling, “New Mexico Aflame Against Two Bills,” The Outlook, Vol. CXXXIII (Jan. 17, 1923), pp. 124–125Google Scholar.

21 Fall expressed this line of defense many times, especially when he was tried for accepting a bribe in 1929. See United States of America vs. Albert B. Fall, Criminal No. 42304, In the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, “Transcript of Proceedings,” Vol. VIII, pp. 799–806, 815–860Google Scholar; Vol. XI, pp. 1367–1513. There are seventeen volumes of these typewritten transcripts; copies in Teapot Dome File, Justice and Executive Section, National Archives.

22 See articles by Fall for North American Newspaper Alliance, numbers five, six, seven, ten, and twelve. In El Paso Times, July 23, 24, 25, 28, 30, 1931.

23 Fall to Doheny, July 31, 1925, Fall Family Papers.

24 Mrs. Fall to H. V. Kaltenborn, National Broadcasting Co. news commentator, Dec. 16, 1941, Fall Family Papers; El Paso Times, Dec. 1, 1944.

25 Fall to Hogan, Jan. 21, 1929, Fall Family Papers.

26 Leases Upon Naval Reserves (1923–24 hearings), pp. 274, 1014–1015, 1704–1705, 1771–1883, 1918–1932; New York Times, Nov. 28, 1923; Fall to Henry A. Wise, July 1, 1925; to Doheny, July 31, 1925; to Frank J. Hogan, Jan. 21, 1929, Fall Family Papers.

27 New York Times, April 22, 1928.

28 Ibid.

29 Francis X. Busch, Enemies of the State, Notable American Trials series (Indianapolis, 1954), pp. 162–163.

30 United States of America vs. Edward L. Doheny, Criminal No. 42305, In the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, “Transcript of Proceedings,” Vol. IX, p. 1611Google Scholar. There are ten volumes of these typewritten transcripts; copies in Teapot Dome File, Justice and Executive Section, National Archives.

31 The Nation, Vol. CXXX (April 2, 1930), p. 382Google Scholar.

32 Pomerene to Benjamin Tuska, April 29, 1930, Teapot Dome File, National Archives.

33 The New Republic, Vol. LXII (April 2, 1930), pp. 174–175Google Scholar.

34 Leases Upon Naval Reserves (1923–24 hearings), pp. 1, 27, 2017–2020, 2058; Congressional Record, 67th Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 5792, 6041 (April 21, 28, 1922).

35 Deposition of Fall taken in El Paso, March 29 to April 1, 1928, for the Sinclair conspiracy trial. Copies are in Teapot Dome File, National Archives, and in the Library of Texas Western College, El Paso.

36 Leases Upon Naval Reserves (1923–24 hearings), pp. 1429–1433, 2374ff.; Congressional Record, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 3230–3233, 3319–3320 (Feb. 28 and 29, 1924). Memorandum by Fall concerning the writing of the letter of Dec. 26, 1923; and Fall to Henry A. Wise, July 1, 1925, Fall Family Papers. Senator Thomas J. Walsh to David F. Pugh, Dec. 13, 1927, Thomas J. Walsh Papers, Library of Congress.

37 Memorandum by Fall concerning the writing of the letter of Dec. 26, 1923; Fall to Henry A. Wise, July 1, 1925, Fall Family Papers.

38 Investigation of Activities of Continental Trading Co. (1928 report).

39 Fall to Henry A. Wise, July 1, 1925. In an unpublished manuscript, dated 1941, Mrs. Fall, who was there, said the others present besides Hays when the letter was written were Sinclair and one of his attorneys, G. T. Stanford, and a stenographer; Fall Family Papers. See also deposition of Fall for Sinclair conspiracy trial, 1928.

40 Walsh, Thomas J., “The True History of Teapot Dome,” The Forum, Vol. LXXII (July, 1924), p. 10Google Scholar.

41 The parent organization, Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, voted in November, 1923, to raise $20,000,000 for the establishment of a new subsidiary, the Pan American Western Company: New York Times, Nov. 28, 1923.

42 From a statement by Fall for press release, Nov. 4, 1929, Fall Family Papers.

43 The entire speech is in the New York Times, June 17, 1931.

44 “People do not die from a broken heart, but people with bad hearts may reach the end much sooner from great worries”: Hoover, Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 51.

45 White, William Allen, Masks in a Pageant (New York, 1928), pp. 431–433Google Scholar. In a later work, The Autobiography of William Allen White (New York, 1946), pp. 623–624Google Scholar, White stated that he was at the door of the presidential suite in Kansas City talking with Harding when Mrs. Fall arrived. See also White, , A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge (New York, 1938), pp. 238–240Google Scholar.

46 Mrs. Fall to White, Aug. 28, 1931, Fall Family Papers. Interview with Fall family in El Paso by A. B. MacDonald, The Kansas City Star, July 12, 1931.

47 Capper quoted in The Kansas City Star, July 12, 1931; White to Mrs. Fall, Sept. 2, 1931, Fall Family Papers.

48 Welliver to Mrs. Fall, May 16,1938, Fall Family Papers.

49 Hoover, , Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 49Google Scholar.

50 Navy doctor Joel T. Boone, one of the presidential physicians attending Harding at the time of his death, stated that Harding died of natural causes as a victim of the presidential office with no person nor single incident directly responsible: Boone to Mrs. Fall, July 20, 1939, Fall Family Papers. Starling, Colonel Edmund W., whose book, Starling of the White House, with Thomas Sugrue (New York, 1946Google Scholar), is not always a reliable source, claims that while he was assigned to the White House Secret Service detail, he acquired a letter from a person in the West warning about an impending scandal over naval oil leases. He maintains that he showed the letter to Harding in Washington, and that the President was badly shaken by it. See pp. 192–193.

51 See Noggle, Burl, “The Origins of the Teapot Dome Investigations,” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. XLIV (Sept., 1957)Google Scholar.

52 Florence Kling Harding to Mrs. Fall, Feb. 15, 1924, Fall Family Papers.