Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny [Paperback]

Margaret Leslie Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2001

Dark Side of Fortune contains all the elements of a Hollywood thriller. Filling in one of the most important gaps in the history of the American West, Margaret Leslie Davis's riveting biography follows Edward L. Doheny's fascinating story from his days as an itinerant prospector in the dangerous jungles of Mexico, where he built the $100-million oil empire that ushered in the new era of petroleum. But it was a tale that ended in tragedy, when--at the peak of his economic power--Doheny was embroiled in the notorious Teapot Dome scandal and charged with bribing the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Few captains of industry have matched Doheny's drive to succeed and his far-reaching ambition. Drawn to the West in search of fortune, he failed at prospecting before finding oil in a smelly, tar-befouled lot in Los Angeles in 1892. Certain that the substance had commercial value, he envisioned steamships and locomotives no longer powered by coal, but by oil. After developing massive oil wells in Mexico, Doheny built an international oil empire that made him one of the wealthiest men in the world. But in 1924 the scandal of Teapot Dome engulfed him. As accusations mounted, he hired America's top legal talent for his defense. During the ten-year-long litigation, Doheny's only son was mysteriously murdered by a family confidant. The government's case against Doheny ended in an astounding jury decision: The cabinet official accused of taking a bribe from Doheny was found guilty and sent to prison, yet Doheny was fully acquitted. Despite the verdict, the scandal had overshadowed the achievements of a lifetime, and he died in disgrace in 1935.
Margaret Leslie Davis recreates the legal drama and adds details of behind-the-scenes strategy gleaned from the personal diaries and archives of Doheny's famed defense attorneys. Previously hidden personal correspondence adds to this first complete portrait of the man and answers questions about Doheny that have eluded historians for almost seventy-five years.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Oilman Edward L. Doheny, fellow oil millionaire Harry Sinclair, and Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall were the infamous trio indicted in the Teapot Dome scandal. However, unlike the other two, Doheny never served time in prison. In this account of the scandal and its aftermath and effect on Doheny and his family, Davis, author of Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles (1993), provides a sympathetic background of Doheny's life and career. Although Doheny was not involved in the Teapot Dome oil reserve (Sinclair was), he had managed to secure drilling rights to two other naval oil reserves, which became linked to Teapot Dome in the broadening scandal. As a consequence, Doheny's federal contracts were voided and the most bizarre paradox in U.S. legal history resulted: in separate trials, Fall was convicted of taking a $100,000 bribe from Doheny, but Doheny was found not guilty of offering the bribe. Although not an outright historical revision, this book's tone is very close, and its aim is to rehabilitate Doheny's reputation. Frank Caso --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

California historian Davis (Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles, 1993) revisits Teapot Dome, the cause clbre that began in the time of Warren Harding, to tell the story of one of the scandal's prominent actors, now largely forgotten. As the Gilded Age turned into the Jazz Age, Edward Doheny, hitherto a feckless prospector, peered into the La Brea tar pits and saw a fortune. He punched the first hole for oil in the city of Los Angeles. Successful, he turned to wildcat drilling in the jungles of Mexico. Gusher followed gusher and the shrewd Doheny became wonderfully rich, the master of a great mansion, a private railroad car, and all the accoutrements of great wealth. It was a world of puissant bigwigs, of powerful cronies, extravagantly mustachioed. It happened one day that the oilman transmitted $100,000 in cash to a cash-poor old crony, Albert Fall, who was then Harding's secretary of the interior. He called it a loan. Just about the same time, the Department of the Interior granted Doheny's company favorable leases in fields dedicated to naval oil reserves. Harry Sinclair, another oilman, obtained similar leases in a field known as Teapot Dome for its odd rock formation. When the deals came to light, a battle between conservationists and exploiters erupted. A Senate investigation turned the transactions into scandal, and civil and criminal trials followed. Fall took the Fifth, but was jailed anyway. Sinclair did time, too. Doheny, though, was found innocent of any criminality. His story and that of his family and friends is told expertly, though with a clearly sympathetic bias, while some questions remain (e.g., why was the ``loan'' made in cash?). Drawing on a new-found trove of Dohenys personal correspondence, and well researched and narrated, this revisionist biography is an interesting addition to the social history of the times. (50 b&w illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (February 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520229096
• ISBN-13: 978-0520229099
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teapot Dome - Early Oil Industry, August 7, 2002

By 

"oxzo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny (Hardcover)

This book is a fascinating look at the life and times of one Edward Doheny the onetime founder of Mexican Oil Company prior to the nationalization of reserves by the revolutionary PRI party in the early days of their power. The narrative follows the career of Mr. Doheny from his modest prospector days in the Wild West to the heights of his infamy during the Teapot Dome scandal.

This is perhaps a timely book as well given the questions being raised at the time of this writing about corporate malfeasance and corruption in the U.S. (Enron). Teapot Dome was one of the biggest political scandals in the first half of the 20th century and involved the leasing of government/public lands in preserve areas for energy development. More than one person went to prison and wrongdoing was proven against multiple individuals in the matter.

The book makes the case that Doheny was more or less guilty of poor judgment and being in the wrong place at the wrong time more or less. It is true of course that Doheny was found innocent on the charges and it is also true that despite this Teapot Dome is the matter for which he is best known (despite for instance being a contemporary and rival of John D. Rockefeller in the oil business). If in fact he was innocent of the charges then he paid a heavy price in terms of his health and the somewhat mysterious death of his son, which was either suicide or murder depending on who you ask and how you look at it.

For those with an interest in the biographies of the early titans of U.S. industry this is a worthy read in that it does detail Mr. Doheny's rise to power as well as his fall from grace. He came from a modest background and did not make his fortune until after the age of 40 in a time before life expectations averaged 70+. He suffered through personal loses and setbacks and managed at the time of his death, despite the misfortunes, to bequeath a sizeable fortune to his heirs. This book may also be of particular interest in the study of Los Angelos in particular and California in general in that the Doheny's were prominent citizens who built some noteworthy structures in the city including religious and educational facilities.

The author acknowledges that she had the cooperation and blessings of the descendants of Mr. Doheny and that a good body of original documentation was available for review and research. This provides an intimate look at the lives of the people in question but it also may cause the thesis to lean towards their views. The book does tend to exonerate Doheny in Teapot Dome and it does make a good argument that his involvement was not profitable and that the Navy Dept in fact sought him out because of rising fears of the Japanese Navy in the years leading up to WWII. It was a condition of Mr. Doheny's development of the area under lease to him that he build an extensive oil storage and supply facility for the Navy in the Hawaiian Isles out of his own pocket. This he did and subsequently was not reimbursed when the lease was negated despite having spent many millions in pre-WWII monies. It is also I believe true to state that it was Henry Sinclair who was the actual lease holder on the Teapot Dome acreage and that Doheny was leased an entirely separate parcel of public land. Sinclair along with Interior Secretary Albert Fall went to prison in the affair but Doheny was also tarred and feathered by the affair.
Whether the delivery of $100,000 in cash by Doheny's son to Sec. Fall was in fact a personal loan much as one might expect between old prospecting buddies (which they were) is really a matter of conjecture. At any rate there was clearly the appearance of impropriety in the matter and both Doheny's son and the man accompanying him that night were involved in a murder/suicide after indictment but before trial. With the principle witness gone and little other corobative evidence Mr. Doheny's celebrity legal representation did get him acquitted although he was convicted in the court of public opinion.

Personally I am inclined to believe a man of his stature might loan a friend the sum in question but I also would not be surprised if a quid pro quo were expected in return. You see there was any number of companies competing in secret for the government contracts and it is interesting that both men who won had either the appearance of impropriety or were outright convicted of bribery. Part of the reason Doheny was spared prison was in fact due to the death of his son and his earnest and teary eyed appearance on the witness stand where he looked the part of a grieving grandfatherly figure who had lost something money could not replace.
It is an intriguing story and well written book, not terribly long or archaic for the casual reader. While it is a history book it is in fact also the story of an interesting chapter in American business and personality history.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another terrific biography from Margaret Leslie Davis, March 12, 2000

By 

Michael Falotico - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny (Hardcover)

Margaret Leslie Davis has done it again with another fine biography. Ms. Davis shows us the inner man of Edward L. Doheny, one of the richest and greatest Californians in history, virtually the John D. Rockefeller, Sr. of the West. Doheny was flat broke at the ripe age of 40 and yet within a few years he became one of the richest men in the country through his wild-cat oil discoveries in Los Angeles and Mexico. The break-up of Rockefeller's Standard Oil by the U.S. Supreme Court left Doheny an opening which he exploited adroitly. Most impressive is Ms. Davis's keen legal understanding and her scrupulous attention to noting her sources. In fact, the "notes" at the end of the book are arranged so that the top of the page refers the reader to the page number of the text thereby making it very easy to flip back and check the source. A small detail, perhaps, but much appreciated. Ms. Davis is a true scholar; her legal training shows itself especially when discussing the Tea Pot Dome scandal that ultimately tarnished Doheny's reputation. In short, Ms. Davis is becoming our finest historian on the West and particularly California.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding Reading for History Lovers, October 7, 1998

By 

Tout Le Monde (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny (Hardcover)

Very few biographers could have sifted through the complex and oftentimes mysterious paper trails of Edward Doheny's life to compile such a mesmerizing tale of ambition, scandal, heartbreak, and murder. Margaret Leslie Davis, (winner of the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award for Best Nonfiction Book) exceeds her previous biographical effort to regale readers with a shadowy epic tracing the rise, fall, and tragic legacy of an American Icarus who flew too close to the sun.

Buy this book. You'll not be disappointed.