The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1922–23, during the administration of President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...

. Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...

 Albert B. Fall

Albert B. Fall

Albert Bacon Fall was a United States Senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, infamous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal.-Early life and family:...

 leased Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 reserves at Teapot Dome

Teapot Rock

Teapot Rock is a distinctive rock formation in Natrona County, Wyoming that lent its name to a nearby oil field that became notorious as the focus of a bribery scandal during the Presidential administration of Warren G. Harding, the Teapot Dome scandal...

 and two other locations to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh

Thomas J. Walsh

Thomas James Walsh was a lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Helena, Montana, in the United States.-Background:...

. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies.

Before the Watergate scandal

Watergate scandal

The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...

, Teapot Dome was regarded as the "greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics".