The Teapot Dome Scandal In The 1920's
Legal Concerns of the Day
The atmosphere in the 1920’s was filled with criminal activity. Much of this criminal activity came from the people who are supposed to give the citizens the truth and keep them safe. Ironically, they were doing the exact opposite. The Harding Administration was an extremely corrupt group of men that became severely diminished once the Teapot Dome Scandal had been discovered. It was one of the most greatest and most sensational scandal’s in the history of American politics before the Watergate Scandal (Cherny). The Teapot Dome Scandal took place in the United States from 1920 to 1923, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased locations to private …show more content…
oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1927 the Supreme Court ruled that the oil leases had been corruptly obtained. Albert Fall, who played the biggest role in the Scandal, was found guilty of Bribery and was fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison, making him the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison for his actions in office. The Teapot Dome played a huge role in the history of the roaring 20’s and the great depression of America (McCartney).
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Before the Teapot Dome Scandal had taken place, in 1919, eight Chicago White Sox players had been accused for intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in an exchange for a large amount of money from gamblers. Despite being acquitted in court, these 8 players were later banned for life from organized baseball, and understandably so. This type of behavior completely takes away the competitive nature of the sport, especially as something as big as the World Series. Controversially many others believe that Joe Jackson was innocent and falsely accused of throwing the World Series. In the Series he hit a robust .375 while setting a major league World Series record with 12 hits, one of which was the only home run hit during the entire Series (Everstine). Does that sound like the type of performance one trying to lose would have? This does raise an interesting question as to did he or did he not partake in the act of purposely losing with his 7 other teammates. This scandal was certainly a huge event at the time and even today. The Black Sox scandal is the biggest scandal in the history of baseball and one of the biggest in all of sports history (Goetch). America was impacted very much by how the people viewed the sport and it created a trust issue between the players and the fans, and whether or not the players were actually performing to their best abilities at all times.
These two scandals aren’t even the tip of the iceberg as to what crime activity had taken place in the 1920’s. Another huge organized crime that took place was the making and distribution of alcohol once the government had made it illegal. The government’s goal by prohibiting the sale of alcohol was to curb crime and violence, however it did the exact opposite. The people of the United States turned more and more to this form of criminal activity. Organized criminals like American mobsters thrived from this. Everyone around the country looked up to these people as heroes. Jobs were scarce at the time and people needed to provide for their families in any way possible. The closure of all alcohol related industries caused a significant increase in unemployment, which led to the making of alcohol illegally. The quality of the alcohol was very poor and a lot of people became sick. Deaths from alcohol had rose 400% once being made illegal by the government. Al Capone was the most famous smuggler and bootlegger of the 1920 's, as he was the owner of several illegal bars. Besides getting in trouble for tax evasion, he along with many others never got caught for their involvement in the illegal making and distribution of alcohol. Bootleg alcohol is what fueled the work of organized crime (Meredith) Noticing how bad of a toll this had on crime and the country as a whole, the United States government ended nationwide prohibition with the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment. Ultimately, the prohibition of alcohol was a complete failure in many cases and caused much more harm than good. Had prohibition never happened organized crime syndicates might not have become so wealthy or powerful (Nash). This opinion is a very logical one as the prohibition of alcohol was certainly one of the biggest if not the biggest contributor to organized crime specialists becoming so rich and well liked by everyone around them. Many movies and entertainment involve the prohibition of alcohol as part of their story, which truly shows how big of an impact it had 80 years ago. For example, in The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby secretly made his money by bootlegging alcohol during the prohibition in the 1920’s. Anyone should know that a movie starring two famous actors involving the prohibition means that it was a huge event at the time it had happened, and that its significance is certainly here to stay.
The 1920’s in the United States had a great party atmosphere, despite the fact that the world was in a great economic depression.
People all around the country disregarded the law and did not respect it much at the time, as organized crime was booming everywhere. It was hard for anyone to trust each other, which is certainly understandable when a Major league baseball team intentionally loses the World Series, an administration made by the president of the country is corrupt and leases locations to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding, and when American mobsters were the most liked by everyone just from the prohibition of alcohol. The 1920s and 1930s proved to Americans that regulating morality was counterproductive (Park). The crime activity that had taken place has definitely affected our country today and the way we look at certain issues as a whole. For example, professional sports are always under a microscope and is observed vary closely just to make sure things are not happening that shouldn’t. To add on, The United States is taking a close look and experimenting with the legalization of marijuana, and some of that contributes from the prohibition of alcohol and the events that had taken place at that time and how they relate today with Marijuana. One of the lessons from prohibition is that we need effective regulations. States should regulate and tax the marijuana market (Peck). This is a clear sign that the prohibition of alcohol was a time of learning from our country, and that our government must prevent that kind of event from taking place in our country again, along with all of the other crime activity and
scandals that had taken place in the 1920’s.
Bowen 6
Work Cited
Robert W. Cherny. “Graft and Oil: How Teapot Dome Became the Greatest Political
Scandal of its Time.” http://www.gilderlehrman.org. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of America. May 27th, 2010. Web.
Eric W. Everstine. “1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal.” http://www.mc.cc.md.us.htm.
Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1998. Web.
Douglas Goetch.“Baseballs loss of innocence.” http://theamericanscholar.org. The
American Scholar. 2011. Web
Laton McCartney. ”The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White
House and Tried to Steal the Country.” New York: Random House, 2008. Print.
Mindy Park. “How did bootlegging, prohibition, and organized crime influence America in the 1920’s and 1930’s?” https://apush-wiki-marlborough-school.wikispaces.com
2008. Web.
Garret Peck.“Lessons from Prohibition” New York Times. https://nytimes.com. May
22nd, 2013. Web.
The atmosphere in the 1920’s was filled with criminal activity. Much of this criminal activity came from the people who are supposed to give the citizens the truth and keep them safe. Ironically, they were doing the exact opposite. The Harding Administration was an extremely corrupt group of men that became severely diminished once the Teapot Dome Scandal had been discovered. It was one of the most greatest and most sensational scandal’s in the history of American politics before the Watergate Scandal (Cherny). The Teapot Dome Scandal took place in the United States from 1920 to 1923, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased locations to private …show more content…
oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1927 the Supreme Court ruled that the oil leases had been corruptly obtained. Albert Fall, who played the biggest role in the Scandal, was found guilty of Bribery and was fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison, making him the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison for his actions in office. The Teapot Dome played a huge role in the history of the roaring 20’s and the great depression of America (McCartney).
Bowen 2
Before the Teapot Dome Scandal had taken place, in 1919, eight Chicago White Sox players had been accused for intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in an exchange for a large amount of money from gamblers. Despite being acquitted in court, these 8 players were later banned for life from organized baseball, and understandably so. This type of behavior completely takes away the competitive nature of the sport, especially as something as big as the World Series. Controversially many others believe that Joe Jackson was innocent and falsely accused of throwing the World Series. In the Series he hit a robust .375 while setting a major league World Series record with 12 hits, one of which was the only home run hit during the entire Series (Everstine). Does that sound like the type of performance one trying to lose would have? This does raise an interesting question as to did he or did he not partake in the act of purposely losing with his 7 other teammates. This scandal was certainly a huge event at the time and even today. The Black Sox scandal is the biggest scandal in the history of baseball and one of the biggest in all of sports history (Goetch). America was impacted very much by how the people viewed the sport and it created a trust issue between the players and the fans, and whether or not the players were actually performing to their best abilities at all times.
These two scandals aren’t even the tip of the iceberg as to what crime activity had taken place in the 1920’s. Another huge organized crime that took place was the making and distribution of alcohol once the government had made it illegal. The government’s goal by prohibiting the sale of alcohol was to curb crime and violence, however it did the exact opposite. The people of the United States turned more and more to this form of criminal activity. Organized criminals like American mobsters thrived from this. Everyone around the country looked up to these people as heroes. Jobs were scarce at the time and people needed to provide for their families in any way possible. The closure of all alcohol related industries caused a significant increase in unemployment, which led to the making of alcohol illegally. The quality of the alcohol was very poor and a lot of people became sick. Deaths from alcohol had rose 400% once being made illegal by the government. Al Capone was the most famous smuggler and bootlegger of the 1920 's, as he was the owner of several illegal bars. Besides getting in trouble for tax evasion, he along with many others never got caught for their involvement in the illegal making and distribution of alcohol. Bootleg alcohol is what fueled the work of organized crime (Meredith) Noticing how bad of a toll this had on crime and the country as a whole, the United States government ended nationwide prohibition with the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment. Ultimately, the prohibition of alcohol was a complete failure in many cases and caused much more harm than good. Had prohibition never happened organized crime syndicates might not have become so wealthy or powerful (Nash). This opinion is a very logical one as the prohibition of alcohol was certainly one of the biggest if not the biggest contributor to organized crime specialists becoming so rich and well liked by everyone around them. Many movies and entertainment involve the prohibition of alcohol as part of their story, which truly shows how big of an impact it had 80 years ago. For example, in The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby secretly made his money by bootlegging alcohol during the prohibition in the 1920’s. Anyone should know that a movie starring two famous actors involving the prohibition means that it was a huge event at the time it had happened, and that its significance is certainly here to stay.
The 1920’s in the United States had a great party atmosphere, despite the fact that the world was in a great economic depression.
People all around the country disregarded the law and did not respect it much at the time, as organized crime was booming everywhere. It was hard for anyone to trust each other, which is certainly understandable when a Major league baseball team intentionally loses the World Series, an administration made by the president of the country is corrupt and leases locations to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding, and when American mobsters were the most liked by everyone just from the prohibition of alcohol. The 1920s and 1930s proved to Americans that regulating morality was counterproductive (Park). The crime activity that had taken place has definitely affected our country today and the way we look at certain issues as a whole. For example, professional sports are always under a microscope and is observed vary closely just to make sure things are not happening that shouldn’t. To add on, The United States is taking a close look and experimenting with the legalization of marijuana, and some of that contributes from the prohibition of alcohol and the events that had taken place at that time and how they relate today with Marijuana. One of the lessons from prohibition is that we need effective regulations. States should regulate and tax the marijuana market (Peck). This is a clear sign that the prohibition of alcohol was a time of learning from our country, and that our government must prevent that kind of event from taking place in our country again, along with all of the other crime activity and
scandals that had taken place in the 1920’s.
Bowen 6
Work Cited
Robert W. Cherny. “Graft and Oil: How Teapot Dome Became the Greatest Political
Scandal of its Time.” http://www.gilderlehrman.org. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of America. May 27th, 2010. Web.
Eric W. Everstine. “1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal.” http://www.mc.cc.md.us.htm.
Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1998. Web.
Douglas Goetch.“Baseballs loss of innocence.” http://theamericanscholar.org. The
American Scholar. 2011. Web
Laton McCartney. ”The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White
House and Tried to Steal the Country.” New York: Random House, 2008. Print.
Mindy Park. “How did bootlegging, prohibition, and organized crime influence America in the 1920’s and 1930’s?” https://apush-wiki-marlborough-school.wikispaces.com
2008. Web.
Garret Peck.“Lessons from Prohibition” New York Times. https://nytimes.com. May
22nd, 2013. Web.