Which of the following best describes the teapot dome scandal? a. one of harding's cabinet members illegally leased oil reserves. b. one of wilson's cabinet members took bribes for pardons. c. harding was directly involved in liquor production in wyominig. d. it was the illegal taxes put on small businesses during the harding administration.

A. One of Harding's cabinet members illegally leased oil reserves.

President Warren G. Harding was not directly implicated in the scandal, but was affected by it. After Pres. Harding transferred supervision of the naval oil-reserve lands from the navy to the Department of the Interior in 1921, Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall secretly gave Harry Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome reserves in Wyoming. He granted a similar deal to another oil company executive. The secret leases came under Congressional investigation. Congress directed President Harding to cancel the leases, and the Supreme Court ruled that Harding's transfer of authority to Interior Secretary Fall had been illegal. The whole affair took a toll on President Harding's health. He died in office in 1923.