__________
__
_____
_____
__
Name
Class
Date
A Turbulent Decade
PRIMARY SOURCE READING
c4 4
Scu
2
an&
daJ
thnin,itratzn
j
©
the further ground... [The periods in this para
graph are the author’s own punctuation.]
Concluding, he did not look at his fellow
Senators or at any one else. Eyes looking down
Unfortunately for President Warren G. Harding, the
ward, he turned, took the arm of his lawyer and
“return to normalcy” his administration sought
moved slowly toward the door. The crowd,
turned instead to scandal and ruin. Although the
turning to watch him, was so silent that the tap
Teapot Dome scandal surfaced months after
ping of his cane could be heard as, with shuf
Harding’s death, it left a final stamp of corruption on
ifing feet> he moved slowly down the corridor.
the beleaguered remnants of the Harding
Walsh said—and who could know better—
administration. The following selection is Mark
that
“it was Fall’s parading of his new-found
Sullivan’s description ofSecretary of the Interior
wealth
among his neighbors in New Mexico
Albert Fall’s appearance before the Senate
that
led to the exposure.”
investigating committee.
That was not only the immediate cause of his
exposure, it was a clue to the remoter and funda
mental cause of his tragedy. Not that Fall was
‘ilk Teapot V2Jn& Scandal
specially ostentatious. But his whole personality
Fall entered the committee room piloted by was a curious combination of
façade that seemed
Senate attendants who elbowed a path through
one thing and reality that was another. He was a
the dense mass of avid spectators that over
synthesis of integrated ostensibles. He was osten
flowed the room, crowded the doorway, and
sibly a rich man, but actually not; he was ostensi
milled in the corridor. He leaned on a cane—in bly courageous but actually
a coward; ostensibly
his best days he had carried one, but then jaun
he seemed a man with an exceptional code of
lily, as an ornament for virility; now it was a
pride, including what is commonly called honor,
support for feebleness. His blue serge suit was
but actually he was a liar.
creased and baggy, the outer surface of inner
The ostensible part of him, the façade, was
demoralization. As he approached the witness
convincing. Men who for six years sat beside
chair, he almost tottered; all the lines of his fea
him in the Senate, and lounged beside him in
tures and figure bent downward, the bars ofhis
the cloak-room, exceptionally shrewd and
gold-framed spectacles made a downward line worldly men whose careers
in politics had
from his ears to his eyes; the ends of his mouth
depended in large part on their insight into
drooped, his cheeks hung limp, everything other men, had taken Fall as
what he appeared
about him sagged. Around him his lawyer busto be. Some of the ablest men in America, who
tied, almost as much a nurse as lawyer. Pulling for two years had sat ‘round
the table with him
twice a week at Harding’s Cabinet meetings,
himself together for a moment Fall read, in a
voice that was clear enough but totally without accepted him at the valuati
on that seemed to
resonance, a statement that his lawyer bad pre
go with his exterior. Perhaps the reason they
pared. With the opening words every Senator were misled was that by
reason of his back
and lawyer recognized the words of the tradi
ground, the Southwest and the desert, he was
tional legal form and knew what it signified: I
an unfamiliar type. Coming from New Mexico,
decline
to answer any questions, on the wearing the soft felt hat of an older
West,
ground that it may tend to incriminate me, and having the mannerisms and
locutions of the
.
.
.
Literature. Primary Sniirre n,1
RinarriI,’i P.w
Chapter 22, Primary Source Reading, Continued
vanished frontier, telling stories of early pros
pecting days, describing himself as “engaged
in farming, stock raising and mining,” men
thought of him as a survival from the West of
the past, and credited him with the glamour
and the ruggedness and the code of the pio
neer. Perhaps Fall romantically thought of
himself as what he was not, and thus became
more convincing to others....
From Our Times: The United States 1900—1925, vol. VI:
The Twenties. Copyright 1935 by Charles Scribner’s
Sons; copyright renewed © 1963 by Mark Sullivan, Jr.
Reprinted by permission of Scribner, a division of
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
YOU READ After you have finished reading the
— UNDERSTANDING WHATquestions
in the space provided.
selection, answer the following
1. Describe the difference between the way Fall used his cane during his successful
career and the way he used it at the Senate hearing.
2. The selection mentions that Fall’s lawyer acted “as much nurse as lawyer.” What
does this tell you about Fall’s state of mind and physical condition?
3. What were some of the contradictions the writer cited in Fall’s character?
4. What were some of the romantic traits Fall wanted others to believe about him?
0
5. Fall’s legal background made him successful. It also led to his downfall. Explain.
0
0
‘0
‘0
.0
0,
0
0
.0
©
ACTIVITY
Create before-and-after character sketches of Senator Albert Fall. In the “bef”
character sketch, show Fall as he was at the height of his career. In the “after” charac
ter sketch, ifiustrate his appearance in front of the Senate investigating committee.
130 Chapter 22
Literature, Primary Source, and Biography Readings
.0
00
0.
0
L)