Teapot Dome: Fall secretly leases Navy oil reserves

Interior Secretary Albert Fall signed a secret lease granting Mammoth Oil Company exclusive drilling rights to the Teapot Dome naval oil reserve in Wyoming, transferring control from the Navy Department without competitive bidding. Fall had previously persuaded President Harding to transfer oversight of naval petroleum reserves from the Navy to the Interior Department. The arrangement yielded Fall at least $404,000 in cash and loans from oil executives Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny, making him the first sitting cabinet member later convicted of crimes committed in office.