What Caused Corruption in Harding's Administration?
Warren G. Harding was elected America's president in 1920 on a platform of returning the country to normalcy after the end of World War I. Harding presided over one of the most prosperous times in America's history; unfortunately, his administration also has the dubious distinction of being one of the most scandal-plagued, corrupt administrations in the history of U.S. politics.
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Friends in High Places
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One of the factors that led to Harding's election was his promise to bring the "best minds" to Washington. However, Harding instead made some extremely poor choices in important government positions, installing a number of friends and associates from his home state of Ohio in key cabinet positions, and then taking a hands-off approach that allowed them to do whatever they wanted. Harding's easy-going nature led many of his greedier cronies to enrich themselves at the government trough, which resulted in public outrage.
Teapot Dome Scandal
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Harding's pick for secretary of the interior, Albert B. Fall, came up with a clever scheme to rent government-owned land to oil companies in return for personal loans and other favors to the tune of more than $400,000. A Senate investigation was launched and found Fall guilty of accepting bribes in exchange for illegally giving oil leases to oil companies. Fall was convicted, fined $100,000 and sentenced to a year in prison. This scandal, dubbed Teapot Dome, was the largest scandal of Harding's administration, but by no means the only one.
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The Ohio Gang
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Harding's cronies from Ohio were dubbed "the Ohio Gang" by the muckraking press of the era. One of these was Jess W. Smith. Depressed over poor health, Smith took his own life in 1923. His death was followed by a number of salacious revelations about his numerous illegal activities. In fact, Smith had been using his contacts within the administration to engage in a number of petty scams, including selling liquor licenses, granting paroles in exchange for bribes and acting as the middleman for other such activities.
Cause of Corruption
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Perhaps the biggest cause of corruption in Harding's administration was that Harding felt overwhelmed by the demands of the office. This was exacerbated by the fact that Harding, who died while in office, was becoming increasingly ill as his presidency progressed. As a result, Harding tended to delegate his responsibilities to his appointed cabinet. One such appointee was Charles Forbes, director of the Veteran's Bureau, who Harding had appointed on a whim. Once in the job, Forbes began illegally selling government supplies to private contractors at bargain prices. Had Harding been more serious about choosing his appointees and more engaged in managing them, the opportunity for corruption would have been minimized.
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References
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