Teapot Dome scandal Teapot Dome was regarded as the "greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics". It damaged the reputation of the Harding administration, which was already severely diminished by its controversial handling of the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 and Harding's veto of the Bonus Bill in 1922. In the early 20th century, the U.S. Navy largely converted from coal to fuel oil. To ensure that the Navy would always have enough fuel available, several oil-producing areas were designated as naval oil reserves by President Taft. In 1921, President Harding issued an executive order that transferred control of
Salad Oil scandal De Angelis, a former commodities broker who had been in trouble previously for providing the federal school lunch program with poorly prepared meat. Despite this, he was able to obtain a contract with Food for Peace, a federal program which sold excess food stocks to poor countries. De Angelis discovered that he could obtain loans based upon the company's supposed inventory of salad oil. Ships apparently full of salad oil would arrive at the docks, and inspectors would confirm that the ships were indeed full of oil, allowing the company to obtain millions in loans. In reality, the ships were