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After it was revealed in a Wall Street Journal Article that naval petroleum had been given to private oil companies by the secretary of Interior, the Senate's suspicions began to grow. Here is the story of a scandal that rocked politics in 1924.

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After winning in landslide fashion, Harding acquired the presidency. However, he had a bad habit of giving government jobs to his friends. His appointments were made not on merit but rather closeness. This inevitably lead to his friends making corrupt decisions, and his cabinet turned into a good old boys club. One of his most notable appointees was Albert Fall.  Albert Fall became the secretary of the interior.

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Albert Fall was a bit of an oddball. He moved around after being born in Kentucky to find the right climate for his cotton factory induced sicknesses. He developed respiratory problems after working in a cotton plant at the age of eleven. For his career, he served in the New Mexico House for 1 year, and during the Spanish-American War, Fall served as a captain of an infantry company. Albert Fall has quite the storied past. However, the part of Albert Fall's story that is most interesting is that Fall was involved in a murder case. To instill fear and to gain political respect, Fall along with others created a faction that terrorized voters with guns and threats of violence. After someone named Albert Fountain showed opposition, Fountain and his 8 year old son went missing. The trial revealed that Fall was involved in the disappearance of Fountain, however Fall's influence and a corrupt legal system led to him with him being pressed with no charges.

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After elected to the US senate, Warren G. Harding decided to appoint Fall to the position of Secretary of Interior. However, when he was selected to the senate, he made many enemies within his own party. This is important as we move on. Fall chose to work with other politicians to ensure his own nomination to the party instead of displaying the Republican brand to the people of New Mexico. This led to Republicans believing he was not committed to the party but rather his ability to maintain power.

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After being appointed as Secretary of the Interior, Harding told the Secretary of the Navy to let Fall oversee naval reserves in many cities. One of these cities was Teapot Dome, Wyoming.

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Out of nowhere, the Wall Street Journal stated that Fall had leased oil fields in Teapot Dome, Wyoming to his friends who worked in the oil industry. Since he did this without holding a public bidding for the reserves, he had to do all the dealing privately. It was also revealed that Fall had been accepting bribes from his friends so they could get their hands on the oil first. The name of his crooked friends were Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny.

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After Congress grew suspicious, and started asking how, "How did Interior Secretary Albert Fall get so rich so quickly?" (Senate.gov) Republicans and Democrats were more than determined to put Fall down. Congress decided to hold a committee and allowed a senator named Robert Follette form Wyoming to organize the committee. After it was known Follette would put together the hearing, his office was ransacked. Surprisingly, Fall was not found guilty of destroying Follette's work place. Fall did have to 635,000 dollars for his crimes.

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Many people see that a major point of focus in the Great Gatsby was what someone will do to be successful in reaching their American Dream, and the connection to Albert Fall lies in his ideology of doing whatever it takes to get money. In fact, Fall argued that it was only natural for him to take the bribes. He saw it as being foolish to not except the money.  Falls's most notable quote during the whole trial was "Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I'll end up drinking your milkshake."                    (Rosenstone 319). So in summary, the two are related in what a person is willing to do in order to become successful.