Teapot Dome scandal

Teapot Dome scandal

Secret leasing of U.S. government land to private interests. In 1922 oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyo., and Elk Hills, Calif., were improperly leased to private oil companies by Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, who accepted cash gifts and no-interest loans from the companies. When the leases became known, Congress directed Pres. Warren G. Harding to cancel them. A later investigation revealed illegal actions by several government officials, some of whom later received fines and short prison sentences. The scandal became a symbol of government corruption.