Few remember it now, but this was the queen mother of political scandals.

Harding's administration was one of the most corrupt administrations in history, so crooked the only thing they wouldn't steal was a red hot stove, filling their pockets while the President looked the other way.

Add to that the possibility that Harding's wife may have poisoned him to let him escape facing the music and you have a great story.

Now largely forgotten, the Teapot Dome scandal (a massive embezzelment of government oil reserves-on land shaped like a teapot, hence the name) was the third or fourth greatest political scandal of all time. Poor President Harding was innocent of any personal wrongdoing; but 'Hapless Harding' presided over the most corrupt cabinet in US history. H.L. Mencken accurately described Harding's cabinet as: "three highly intelligent men of self-interest, six jackasses and one common crook!"

What makes this arguably the most fascinating political scandal of the 20th Century is the fact that it was so blatant, as was that it was executed by the highest members of a Presidential Cabinet. But to blame Warren G. Harding for this would not be fair. Harding's only real fault (besides being a bufoon) was his poor judgment of character in the friends he put in governmental positions. But it is fair to say that corrupt men such as Albert B. Fall and Harry M. Daugherty are now forever condemned as the criminals they were.