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THE TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL, CLINTON'S CRISIS AND REPUTATIONAL ENTREPRENEURS
EVANSTON, Ill. ---What do the 1923 Teapot Dome scandal and the current White House crisis have in common? Plenty, according to Gary Fine, a professor of sociology at Northwestern University who is writing a book on reputation politics.
Reputation politics played a pivotal role in tarnishing Warren Harding's reputation regarding the oil leasing scandal that was revealed after his death; and whether or not the allegations regarding President Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky are true, such politics are hard at play in the White House crisis today, Fine said.
"My book is all about how villains and sinners get created, and the role reputational entrepreneurs play in the process," said Fine. "Regarding the Clinton crisis, for example, the reputational entrepreneurs include both the so-called right wing conspiracy as well as the President's defenders. Like the Teapot Dome Scandal, the alleged Lewinsky affair provides the kind of opportunity that opponents lock onto and use for their own purposes."
In other words, they are all engaged in politics American style. "That is hard ball politics," said Fine. "This is typically how things get played out in a two-party system, whether the Democrats are doing it to Richard Nixon or the Republicans are doing it to Bill Clinton."
Fine's book examines what he calls the creation of problematic reputations, focusing on Warren Harding, Benedict Arnold, Henry Ford, John Brown Vladimir Nabokov, Sinclair Lewis, Herman Melville and Fatty Arbuckle.
Ultimately the Teapot Dome politics overshadowed the accomplishments of the Harding Administration, which Fine points out bear striking similarities to those of the Clinton Administration.
"The parallels between Clinton and Harding are rather dramatic," said Fine. "The economy also was robust during Harding's presidency, and his administration, including a high caliber cabinet, was responsible for a number of important initiatives, including the creation of the Office of Management and Budget." The first international weapons treaty also was negotiated under the Harding Administration.
"At the time, politicians initially ignored the allegations, which focused on Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall accepting a bribe and leasing naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming," said Fine. "But after Harding's death in 1923, environmental lobbyists finally got the attention they were seeking, and today Harding is remembered mostly for his relationship to the scandal."
(Professor Fine can be contacted directly at (847) 491-3495 or at (847) 657-0113.)
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