Albert Bacon Fall was an American lawyer, judge, military officer, politician, and Republican senator from New Mexico who became secretary of the Interior under Warren G. Harding. His career in territorial and national government ended in the Teapot Dome scandal, for which he became the first former U.S. cabinet official imprisoned for a felony committed in office.
Background
Albert Bacon Fall was born on November 26, 1861, in Frankfort, Kentucky, to William R. Fall and Edmonia Taylor Fall. He attended country schools and was largely self-educated. From 1879 to 1881 he taught school and studied law, after which he moved west and worked in farming, ranching, mining, and related enterprises.
Fall married Emma Garland Morgan in Clarksville, Texas, on May 7, 1883. He later settled in the New Mexico Territory, where he prospected for gold and silver, worked as a miner and cowboy, and developed interests in land, livestock, railroads, lumber, and mineral resources. His family operated the Three Rivers Ranch in the Tularosa Basin, and he also maintained connections with El Paso, Texas.
Education
Fall attended country schools and received no documented university education. His education was principally self-directed: while teaching school between 1879 and 1881, he studied law and later continued his legal preparation in the New Mexico Territory. He was admitted to the territorial bar in 1891 and entered practice in Las Cruces, where southwestern resource questions and Mexican law formed important parts of his legal work.
Career
Fall began his working life as a teacher and later combined farming, cattle raising, mining, prospecting, and legal study. He practiced law in Las Cruces after being admitted to the bar in 1891, developing a specialty in Mexican law, land, water rights, and southwestern resources. His business interests extended to mines, lumber, land, railroads, ranching, and stock raising.
His public career began in New Mexico Territorial politics. He served in the Territorial House of Representatives from 1891 to 1892 and on the Territorial Council during several periods, including 1892, 1896–1897, and the early twentieth century. In 1893 President Grover Cleveland appointed him judge of the Third Judicial District and associate justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court; Fall resigned the judicial appointment in 1895. He later served as territorial attorney general in 1897 and again in 1907.
During the Spanish-American War, Fall served as captain of Company H of the First Territorial Infantry from 1898 to 1899. New Mexico's admission to the Union in 1912 opened a national political career, and Fall became one of the state's first two United States senators. He served from March 27, 1912, until March 4, 1921, chairing Senate committees concerned with departmental expenditures, geological resources, and the territories and insular possessions.
President Warren G. Harding appointed Fall secretary of the Interior in March 1921. The Interior Department administered major federal land and resource programs, and Fall became involved in transferring naval petroleum reserves from the Navy to the department before leasing Teapot Dome and Elk Hills to private oil companies without competitive bidding. He resigned in March 1923 and returned to his ranching and business interests in Three Rivers, New Mexico.
The Senate investigation into the oil leases led to criminal proceedings. Fall was convicted of accepting a bribe from Edward L. Doheny, fined $100,000, and sentenced to one year in prison. He entered the New Mexico State Penitentiary in July 1931 and served approximately nine and a half months. He died in El Paso, Texas, on November 30, 1944.
Achievements
Fall became one of New Mexico's first two United States senators after the territory entered the Union as the forty-seventh state in 1912.
He served in several senior New Mexico Territorial offices, including judge of the Third Judicial District, associate justice of the territorial supreme court, and territorial attorney general.
As secretary of the Interior, Fall administered federal natural-resource responsibilities during the Harding administration and became the central political figure in the Teapot Dome oil-leasing scandal.
His bribery conviction and imprisonment made him the first former United States cabinet official imprisoned for a felony committed while in office.
(Fall's memoirs, edited and annotated by David H. Stratton...)
1966
Politics
Fall's political career developed first in New Mexico Territorial politics and later in the Republican Party. He served in territorial legislative and judicial offices before becoming one of New Mexico's first United States senators after statehood in 1912. His earlier political activity included Democratic affiliations, but he aligned with the Republican Party by the early twentieth century and represented New Mexico as a Republican senator.
As secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923, Fall promoted the private development of federal natural resources. His administration of the naval petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, became the central issue in the Teapot Dome scandal after the reserves were leased without competitive bidding to private oil companies. The resulting investigation and bribery conviction made the scandal a major episode in the history of American political corruption and federal oversight.
Views
Fall favored private development of natural resources and generally supported the expansion of mining, ranching, land use, and petroleum production. His political and business activities reflected a belief that western lands and mineral resources should be developed through private enterprise, although his handling of federal petroleum reserves ultimately became the subject of criminal prosecution.
Membership
Fall was associated with the New Mexico Bar Association and served as its president in 1897, reflecting his place in the emerging professional legal institutions of the New Mexico Territory. He was also a member of the Toltec Club in El Paso, a civic and social organization connected with the region's professional and business community.
Served as president in 1897.
New Mexico Bar Association
,
United States
1897
Toltec Club
,
United States
Personality
Contemporary and historical accounts describe Fall as forceful, combative, and associated with a rugged frontier political style. The Senate has also described him as having a volatile personality and frontiersman manner. These characteristics formed part of his public image as a territorial politician, lawyer, rancher, and cabinet official.
Physical Characteristics:
Fall was commonly depicted with a prominent mustache. In later life he was physically frail and suffered from chronic illness.
Interests
Mining, ranching, farming, stock raising, land, lumber, railroads, and western resource development.
Politicians
Fall admired Theodore Roosevelt and developed a close political relationship with Warren G. Harding.
Connections
Fall was the son of William R. Fall and Edmonia Taylor Fall. He married Emma Garland Morgan in 1883. Their children included John Morgan Fall, Alexina Chase, Caroline Everhart, and Jouett Elliott; John and Caroline died during the influenza epidemic of 1918. Fall's long professional association with Edward L. Doheny, whom he knew from his early mining years in the Southwest, later became significant during the Teapot Dome proceedings.
U.S. Senate: 100 Years Since Teapot Dome
Explains Fall's role as secretary of the Interior in the Teapot Dome scandal and identifies him as the first cabinet official convicted of a felony.
Albert B. Fall Papers, 1851–1928
Describes Fall's family background, legal and political career, military service, ranching interests, and archival papers held by the University of New Mexico.
