Coolidge Fires Daugherty for Refusing to Open Justice Department Files

President Calvin Coolidge dismissed Attorney General Harry Daugherty after he refused to open Justice Department files to a congressional committee investigating charges of wrongdoing by Harding associates. Daugherty faced bitter public opposition when appointed attorney general and nearly faced impeachment proceedings in 1922 as rumors of corruption circulated around him throughout Harding’s administration. His defiance of congressional oversight represented an attempt to obstruct investigation of systematic graft, fraud, and theft by the Ohio Gang. Daugherty went to trial twice in 1927 on charges of graft and fraud stemming from his actions as attorney general, with both trials ending in hung juries. He was suspected of profiting from illegal alcohol sales, failing to enforce Prohibition, and selling pardons and legal protection. Daugherty spent the rest of his life in Ohio law practice, maintaining his innocence and defending both himself and Harding in “The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy” (1932). His refusal to provide documents and his ultimate firing established a pattern of executive branch resistance to accountability that would recur throughout American political history.