Video: 'Teapot Dome: The Watergate Before Watergate'

(Thursday, April 7, 1922) — The Teapot Dome scandal, a bribery scandal involving the administration of U.S. President Warren G. Harding, had its beginnings today as Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall signed a secret deal to lease U.S. Navy petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California to his friends, oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny, in exchange for cash gifts.

Video: 'History Brief: The Ohio Gang and the Teapot Dome Scandal'

Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall would become the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison.

Congress subsequently passed legislation, enduring to this day, giving subpoena power to the House and Senate for review of tax records of any U.S. citizen regardless of elected or appointed position.