Which major early 20th-century scandal involved the secret leasing of a U.S. Navy oil reserve in Wyoming to private interests?

• A. Credit Mobilier Scandal
• B. Watergate Scandal
• C. Monroe Doctrine Controversy
• D. Teapot Dome Scandal

Answer: (D)

When governments control valuable resources, corruption can distort policy and benefit private interests. The Teapot Dome scandal fits this pattern: in the early 1920s, Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall secretly leased the U.S. Navy’s Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming to private oilmen in exchange for personal favors. This blatant move to profit from a public resource exposed how officials could be swayed by private gain, and it led to a high-profile investigation, Fall’s conviction, and reforms aimed at tightening oversight of oil leases and Interior Department dealings. Other events listed are not about secret government-for-private-profit oil deals, so they don’t match the scenario described.