1. The Harding Presidency
Teapot Dome Scandal

2. Warren G. Harding Elected in 1920
Answer to post-war economic problems – “Less government in business and more business in government”
Lowered taxes on wealthy
Why?

3. Harding’s Presidency Some say Harding lacked governing skills
Surrounded himself with extremely talented cabinet
Treasury of Secretary: Andrew Mellon (multimillionaire businessman)
Secretary of State: Charles Evans Hughes (1916 presidential candidate, lost to Wilson)
Commerce Secretary: Herbert Hoover (future president)

4. Successes in Office Dawes Plan and Young Plan
Kellog-Briand Pact: Renounced war as a means of national policy
Signed by 15 nations, but very difficult to enforce
Dawes Plan and Young Plan
Helped solve post-war debt problem by aiding Germany

6. Scandal Hits the White House
Although he had a very skilled cabinet, Harding used the spoils system to appoint old friends from Ohio to lower- level government posts
Members of this “Ohio Gang” were convicted of taking bribes
Worst scandal was involved Secretary of Interior Albert Fall

7. Teapot Dome Scandal: 1921 - 1924 First Cabinet member to go to prison
Government set aside oil-rich public land in Teapot, Wyoming
Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two oil companies
Fall received $400,000 from the oil companies and a felony conviction from the courts
First Cabinet member to go to prison