The Teapot Dome Scandal Ruined the Harding Administration

Albert B. Fall was entrusted with the leasing of government oil reserves at Elk Hill and Teapot Dome. He handed the fat, juicy contract outright to his friend Edward L. Dohini. Then he ordered United States Marines into the district to drive off competitors whose adjacent wells were sapping oil out of the Elk Hill reserves. A stench arose so vile that it ruined the Harding administration,. threatened to wreck the Republican Party and put Albert B. Fall behind prison bars.