History Gets Scandalous

Teapot Dome 1921

The teapot dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving a plot of land called Teapot Dome in the state of Wyoming. Then president Warren G. Harding issued an executive order that transferred management of the Teapot Dome oil fields to the Department of the Interior. President Taft had set the land aside for the U.S Navy’s use. The Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, leased the land to an oil operator (he did the same with dome land in California), giving him the exclusive right to drill on the land.

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After senate investigations showed that Albert Fall had recieved over $400,000 for hiscooperation, he was sentenced to a year in prison and fined. He was the first cabinet member ever imprisoned in US history.

The Petticoat Affair-1831

Margaret “Peggy” Eaton (nee O’Neale) was known for a being a flirt. Her first husband was a man named John Timberlake. The story goes that he was away at sea for a while when he heard of his wife,Peggy, having a miscarriage Since he’d been gone for nine months, he made his own conclusions. The man comitted suicide, slashing his own throat.

It was said that his wife was having an affair with the Secretary of War John Henry Eaton. The two were married shortly after the first husband died and the people (ladies in particular) were scandalized. President Andrew Jackson’s cabinet became divided by the scandal. Second first lady Floride Calhoun, wife of V.P John C Calhoun was the head of the anti-Peggy faction, along with a host of other cabinet wives.

Andrew Jackson’s beloved wife had died of a heart attack two weeks prior to the election, and Jackson blamed the vicious campaign rhetoric for her untimely death. He hated gossip and allied himself with the Eatons. His acting first lady was his wife’s niece Emily Donelson. She was anti-Peggy. Martin Van Buren, a bachelor, also sided with the Eatons.

Eventually, Eaton and a few other cabinet members resigned and Van Buren became a favorite of the president. He was chosen to be the running mate in the following election and heir apparent to the democratic leadership. Calhoun was sent back to South Carolina, later becoming a secessionist.