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Albert Bacon Fall (November 26, 1861 - November 30, 1944) was the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, notorious for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal.
Fall was born in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1861. He later moved to the New Mexico Territory in the city of Las Cruces. He worked there as a lawyer until 1893, when he was appointed judge of the third judicial district. During the Spanish-American War, Fall served as a captain of an infantry troop. As a member of the Republican Party, Fall was elected as a U.S. Senator from New Mexico in the year 1912 and served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor. In March of 1921, President Warren Harding appointed him as the Secretary of the Interior. Afterwards, Harding convinced Edwin Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, that he should take over responsibility for the Naval Reserves at Elk Hills, California, Buena Vista, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming. This last setting was used for the namesake of the scandal. Later that year, Fall decided that two of his friends, Harry F. Sinclair (Mammoth Oil Corporation) and Edward L. Doheny (Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company), should be allowed to lease part of these Naval Reserves.
He was later jailed for one year as a result of the Teapot Dome scandal, the first former cabinet officer sentenced to prison as a result of misconduct in office.
He was part of the Ohio Gang and became the Secretary of the Interior under Harding. He served between 1921 and 1923.
He died in El Paso, Texas, on November 30th, 1944.
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