The Teapot Dome scandal of the early 1920s was all about oil—hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of petroleum. When the scandal finally broke, the consequences were tremendous. President Harding's legacy was forever tarnished, while “Oil Cabinet” member Albert Fall was forced to resign and imprisoned for a year. Others implicated in the affair suffered prison terms, mental hospitals, suicide, and even murder.
The Republican Party and the oil company CEOs scrambled to cover their tracks and were mostly successful. Key documents mysteriously disappeared; important witnesses suffered sudden losses of memory. Though a special investigation was authorized, the scope of the wrongdoing was contained by administration stonewalling. But newly surfaced information indicates that the scandal was even bigger than originally thought.
In the greatest story of government scandal ever told, Warren Harding's Secretary of the Interior was "giving away oil leases like kisses at a wedding." Oil magnates of the 1920s then tapped into the public's petroleum reserves, realizing hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, all quid pro quo. Narrator William Hughes races through the details of the devilish deals like he's just finished 20 grande lattes. His caffeinated style mixed with a conspiracy as complicated as an Agatha Christie novel will leave many listeners' heads spinning--and grateful there won't be a test at the end. Hughes has a laudable knack with the numerous quotes, using subtle changes in his word stress to set them apart without employing annoying pauses or hundreds of characterizations. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
About the Author
LATON MCCARTNEY is the author of the national bestseller Friends in High Places. He divides his time between Wyoming and New York City.
