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The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country | 
 enlarge | Author: Laton Mccartney
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy New: $13.12
You Save: $13.88 (51%)
New (45) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $12.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 39202
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 1400063167
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.914
EAN: 9781400063161
ASIN: 1400063167
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SOME SLIGHT WEAR ON DUST JACKET BUT IT IS A BRAND NEW BOOK BUT OUT OF SHRINKWRAP,'BOOK CLUB EDITION',UNREAD,UNOPENED,SHIPS WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION,BUY WITH CONFIDENCE,THANKS
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Product Description
Mix hundreds of millions of dollars in petroleum reserves; rapacious oil barons and crooked politicians; under-the-table payoffs; murder, suicide, and blackmail; White House cronyism; and the excesses of the Jazz Age. The result: the granddaddy of all American political scandals, Teapot Dome.
In The Teapot Dome Scandal, acclaimed author Laton McCartney tells the amazing, complex, and at times ribald story of how Big Oil handpicked Warren G. Harding, an obscure Ohio senator, to serve as our twenty-third president. Harding and his so-called “oil cabinet” made it possible for the oilmen to secure vast oil reserves that had been set aside for use by the U.S. Navy. In exchange, the oilmen paid off senior government officials, bribed newspaper publishers, and covered the GOP campaign debt.
When news of the scandal finally emerged, the consequences were disastrous for the nation and for the principles in the plot to bilk the taxpayers: Harding’s administration was hamstrung; Americans’ confidence in their government plummeted; Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was indicted, convicted, and incarcerated; and others implicated in the affair suffered similarly dire fates. Stonewalling by members of Harding’s circle kept a lid on the story–witnesses developed “faulty” memories or fled the country, and important documents went missing–but contemporary records newly made available to McCartney reveal a shocking, revelatory picture of just how far-reaching the affair was, how high the stakes, and how powerful the conspirators.
In giving us a gimlet-eyed but endlessly entertaining portrait of the men and women who made a tempest of Teapot Dome, Laton McCartney again displays his gift for faithfully rendering history with the narrative touch of an accomplished novelist.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Not bad, but not enough... June 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Like many new books I've read lately, I found many of the "connections" established here to be tenuous at best. National political conventions were what they were, I'm not 100% that 1920 was significantly more corrupt than any previous undertaking, with the possible exception of the visible money flow. I'm also a bit perplexed about how Albert Fall shot into his position as best available replacement nominee as Secretary of the Interior, as his personal connection to the oil guys wasn't demonstrated to my satisfaction.
There's no doubt the money flowed, there's no doubt that this was a case of monumental corruption... but I was hoping to read something new, and all I found was a good re-telling of a story I already knew.
 Some Things Never Change April 11, 2008
McCartney writes with considerable skill and quite comprehensively of the domination of the oil industry of the American economy in the first third of the 20th century. Crimes were committed that went virtually unpunished, while oil executives thumbed their noses at feeble efforts of Congress to address the problem. It makes you wonder what else is new.
What we need now in this nation is a clone of Senator Thomas James Walsh (D-Mont) who might be willing to take on the military-industrial, oil dominated oligarchy that now controls our economy and our lives. Perhaps another Walsh could get the current Congress off its dying rear end and on its dying feet, but it would probably be met with the same indifference and/or impotence that was demonstrated in the 1920's.
I would be delighted to see Laton McCartney, with his research and analytical skills undertake such a project, in the hope that he might produce yet another articulate and fascinating analysis of the forces that continue to control our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
 Time Loop of Greed March 27, 2008
This excellent work shows how the names change, but the greed and corruption never do. A very entertaining account of an episode not well enough remembered, with many contemporary parallels.
THE TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL March 27, 2008
I was interested in this book because it begins in my hometown, Ardmore, Oklahoma. Some things came out in the book that were unknown until its publication, even though it has been almost 90 years since the incidents in the book took place.
It tells an interesting story about the largest scandal in government to that time. It also shows how people have used the media and government to distort the truth for a long time in this country.
It is a facinating read.
Excellent example of "The more things change...." March 23, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
After seeing the author on The Daily Show, and having written advertising copy for oilfield-supply companies for 38 years, I HAD to get this book. I enjoyed it so much, despite my abhorrence of most non-fiction writing. This book is far from dry or dusty, as is so much n.f.. The characters are real, live people in these pages. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed since Teapot. Witness the bloodlust of the Bush/Cheney administration for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR) or the inability of Mr. Clinton to control his urges. This book has it all: money, power, sex, oil and a public that is largely unaware of the shenanigans taking place in Washington DC.
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