born Nov. 26, 1861, Frankfort, Ky., U.S.
died Nov. 30, 1944, El Paso, Texas
U.S. secretary of the interior (192123).
He began practicing law in New Mexico Territory in 1889. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1913 to 1921, when he was appointed Secretary of the Interior by Pres. Warren G. Harding . He resigned his cabinet post two years later and returned to New Mexico. In 1924 a Senate investigation revealed that Fall had accepted a large bribe to lease to private oil interests, without competitive bidding, naval oil reserve lands in the Teapot Dome reserve in Wyoming and other reserves in California. He was convicted of bribery in 1929 and served nine months of a one-year prison sentence. See also Teapot Dome scandal .