What was the teapot dome scandal and who was responsible for it?

Answer 1

The Teapot Dome scandal occurred while Warren G. Harding was President of the United States. A Cabinet member leased oil reserves to a private company that were meant for use by the United States Navy without the approval of Congress. This took place in the early 1920's.
The 1920's Public Corruption Case

"Teapot Dome" was the name for an oil field on federal lands in Wyoming, which was leased (along with other land) to oil companies by Warren Harding's Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall. Fall was previously a US Senator from New Mexico. He was later convicted of accepting bribes for providing the leases, the worst of several scandals of the Harding administration.

Bribery and Kickback Loans

Fall was appointed by President Harding in 1921, and Harding transferred the Teapot Dome land from the US Navy to the Department of the Interior. A year later, Fall arranged for Sinclair Oil to acquire an oil lease on the land, and for the company Pan American Petroleum to lease federal lands in Elk Hills, California. After a report by the Wall Street Journal about no-interest loans made to Fall, congressional inquiries began. A total of $404,000 in such loans had been made by oil executives Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny to Secretary Fall. Despite a concerted cover-up, a Senate investigation eventually uncovered the facts. Fall resigned in 1923. He was convicted of conspiracy and bribery in 1929, and was sentenced to a year in prison. He was the first former Cabinet member to be jailed for public corruption.

The Supreme Court in 1927 rescinded the leases and returned the lands to control of the US Navy. Sinclair was convicted of contempt of Congress and served a six-month sentence. Doheny was acquitted, and foreclosed on Fall's home to recover $100,000 of the bribery loans.

Answer 2

The Interior Secretary leased the reserves from the Navy Department to private companies in exchange for bribes.