Albert Fall entered the New Mexico State Penitentiary in Santa Fe to begin serving his one-year sentence for bribery, becoming the first presidential Cabinet member in American history imprisoned for felony crimes committed while in office. Driven by ambulance from El Paso due to poor health, Fall …
Albert Fall, former Secretary of the Interior under President Warren Harding, was found guilty of accepting bribes from oil executive Edward Doheny and sentenced to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Fall became the first presidential Cabinet member in American history to be convicted of a …
The Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys began formal public hearings on the Teapot Dome oil leases, led by Montana Democratic Senator Thomas Walsh. Republican leadership had assigned this junior minority member to chair the inquiry, expecting it to be futile. Walsh, a former prosecutor, …
Interior Secretary Albert Fall secretly granted Harry Sinclair’s Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to extract oil and gas from the Teapot Dome naval petroleum reserve in Wyoming for 20 years, without competitive bidding. Fall locked the contract in his desk and instructed staff to tell no …
Edward Doheny, oil magnate and head of Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, delivered $100,000 in cash to Interior Secretary Albert Fall as a “loan” that was never repaid (equivalent to $1.76 million in 2024). This payment preceded Doheny’s company receiving lucrative …
President Warren G. Harding signed Executive Order 3474 transferring control of naval petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills and Buena Vista in California from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior under Secretary Albert Fall. This transfer removed the reserves …