Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny
Oilman Edward L. Doheny, fellow oil millionaire Harry Sinclair, and Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall were the infamous trio indicted in the Teapot Dome scandal. However, unlike the other two, Doheny never served time in prison. In this account of the scandal and its aftermath and effect on Doheny and his family, Davis, author ofRivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles(1993), provides a sympathetic background of Doheny's life and career. Although Doheny was not involved in the Teapot Dome oil reserve (Sinclair was), he had managed to secure drilling rights to two other naval oil reserves, which became linked to Teapot Dome in the broadening scandal. As a consequence, Doheny's federal contracts were voided and the most bizarre paradox in U.S. legal history resulted: in separate trials, Fall was convicted of taking a $100,000 bribe from Doheny, but Doheny was found not guilty of offering the bribe. Although not an outright historical revision, this book's tone is very close, and its aim is to rehabilitate Doheny's reputation.Frank Caso