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

by Margaret Leslie Davis

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 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.

Genres: Biography, History, Business, Nonfiction

440 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 1998

About the author

Margaret Leslie Davis is a graduate of Georgetown University and earned her master's in professional writing at the University of Southern California.

Reviews

[Terry Cornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I heard the name Doheny was in the Beach Boys song "Surfin' USA" referring to Doheny State Beach outside of Dana Point, California. Many years later someone suggested to my wife and I to visit Greystone Mansion while we were in the Beverly Hills area. Greystone was owned by Edward Doheny's son--and it was there that I first learned a little of the Doheny story. I had enjoyed reading another book by Margaret Leslie Davis, 'River in the Desert' about the life of Francis Mulholland another icon of early Los Angeles. Doheny's story is lengthy, and I'm only going to cover a few points I find particularly interesting.

Much like the rags to riches story of George Hearst, Edward Doheny started off as a silver prospector in the late 1800s in Arizona. Eventually he discovered that he could be more prosperous in dealing with leasing and selling mining claims. Circumstances led him to relocate to Los Angeles in a lucrative real estate market. In the area of La Brea asphalt was being used to refine into oil. Doheny obtained a lease for a nearby parcel, and ended up drilling one of the first oil wells in Los Angeles. He continued to develop other properties throughout California, and extensively in Mexico. His company became so successful, he needed to find more customers for his oil. He convinced the Southern Pacific and other California railroads to switch from coal burning locomotives to oil burning ones on the promise of providing less expensive oil.

Years later enter the Teapot Dome Scandal. I remember a little of this from high school. Certainly don't remember the name of Doheny being involved. Definitely a scandal, prosecutors went after Harry Sinclair of Sinclair and Doheny for bribing government officials to obtain rights to drill for oil on federal oil reserves. Doheny's roll is he made a deal to build oil storage tanks for the Navy at Pearl Harbor, and to keep them filled at cost in return for using excess oil drilled from the Elk Hills Navy Reserve for his own profits. Federal prosecutors accused him of bribing the Secretary of the Interior with a loan (small loan, and he was a personal friend from his prospecting days), even though the secretary had no role in awarding the bid. Doheny was twice acquitted of the charges, but his company ended up eating the cost of constructing the oil storage facilities at Pearl Harbor. (without which the later war in the Pacific might have had different results) Harry Sinclair was convicted, as well as the Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall.

During the trials of the Teapot Dome Scandal Edward gave Greystone Mansion to his son Ned and his wife. Ned had been heavily involved working for his father. Hugh Plunkett was a high school friend of Ned, and worked as his personal assistant. One evening in 1929 at the mansion either Hugh shot and killed Ned, and then himself. Possibly Ned killed Hugh and then shot himself. According to official accounts Hugh was distraught and shot Ned first. However, evidence from the District Attorney and coroner indicate it was the other way around. Efforts were definitely made to subvert evidence without an apparent motive. Ed Doheny was so distraught losing his only son, that he donated the land for the Doheny Beach State Park, as well as providing funds for a library in Ned's name at USC. The toll of the Teapot Dome trials, and his son's death had a detrimental effect on Doheny's health and spirit. He and his wife moved to a ranch house they built outside Santa Paula. Estelle Doheny lived several years more after her husband's death, and upon her death donated their mansion south of downtown Los Angels to Loyola Marymount University Many of her antiquities and rare book collection were donated to the Catholic Church. She also created the world renowned Doheny Eye Institute. The Doheny's also made many charitable donations to Catholic Church projects during their life, including areas in Mexico where Doheny oil production took place. Doheny started as a poor starving silver prospector and ended up developing one of the leading oil companies of the nation. Some might label him as an 'evil' capitalist, but he believed in supporting others through philanthropy. Anyone interested in Los Angeles history, or the early Oil business would find this book a good read.

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interestingly, I picked up this book on Edward L. Doheny while visiting the estate that he gave to his ill-fated son Edward "Ned" L. Doheny, Jr., who would die in one of the rooms at either the hands of her personal secretary or his own hand after killing the secretary Hugh Plunkett.

I recognized the name Doheny for many of the sites named after the oil tycoon in Los Angeles, but knew little of his story. This book provides that and more.

Because Doheny was not only smart and tenacious, which served him well as he began his working life as a teenager working for the U.S. Geological Survey, then became a miner who didn't so much mine but collected mines that he later sold at profit. He then got into oil drilling, where his fortunes really grew.

Professionally, his luck held until his later years, when a 'loan' to an old friend who happened to be Secretary of the Interior, made him a cause celebrity charged and forever tarred as a starring player in the Teapot Dome Scandal. Like the death of his son, we will never know whether the loan was a loan or a bribe. His friend, another oilman and Doheny's companies were all convicted of bribery and conspiracy. He alone walked away without conviction.

It is this juxtaposition between the luck that gave him great wealth and position and the turn of events that resulted in the death of his children and destruction of his reputation, that makes this such an interesting book.

While it may be too historical for the average reader, it is interesting reading. Here for the modern day reader is to see how far and how little we have come from the turn of the 20th century, when men like Doheny thought they knew better that their government and that of Mexico's. Where Doheny may indeed have thought that he was too big to be brought down by his actions. And of course, there was a price that not only he, but others, paid for his actions. It makes for a fascinating reading into one of the movers and shakers in the development of Los Angeles with important lessons for us all.

[Mark Greenbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

The material here is fertile soil, the inspiration for Daniel Day Lewis's Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, the time periods covered -- from the birth of America as a superpower to the Great Depression -- is fertile for storytelling, and yet this book falls flat. And the reason for its disappointment is pretty straightforward: Davis is a poor biographer, completely unable to spool together an interesting narrative. She is only interested in providing a string of mundane detail from start to finish -- the length of mustaches, cufflinks worn, dinner menus -- and doesn't know how to mold the clay she's mined. That's a shame.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't exactly call this a riveting book. Doheny's life is incredibly interesting to read about, and the book is organized clearly, and researched well. But Davis has no skill as a biographer, and so pretty much the book is just a factual account of what happened during Doheny's lifetime to Doheny. The book did not evoke any sense of Los Angeles or the Mexican oilfields of that time. It's too bad that someone with more writing skill and a more nuanced vision of biography hasn't written this story.

[Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Describes an important, often missed, element of history--and describes a life full of events as captivating as a Hollywood movie.

Often the history of Southern California talks of the early Hispanic settling, then jumps to the movie years. In between,though, there was the discovery of oil and the transformation of the world by its new availability.

Other than vaguely knowing there was a Doheny Drive in the Beverly Hills/Los Angeles area, I knew nothing of the Dohenys until a visit last month to the Greystone Mansion, the home Doheny Sr. had had built for his son and his son's family.

The first fascinating part of the story is the discovery of oil and the eventual establishments of oil fields in Mexico (Mexico, at the time, being the main U.S. oil supplier with the Middle East not yet in the picture.) Then there is the whole political instability in that country and the rise of revolutionaries like Poncho Villa.

I thought this book would be a bit of an ordeal--Teapot Dome Scandal anyone? Yet the author describes the scandal, and following trials, clearly and the passages hold one's interest as well as a whodunit.

The Scandal: Just after WWI, the U.S. Navy wanted to own oil fields so that, in the next war, the Navy would be assured of an oil supply. The Navy had three fields: Two in California and one near the Teapot Dome, an outcropping in the Southwest that looked like a teapot. A problem was, that the companies who owned the neighboring lands were draining off the Navy's oil. So the Navy wanted to make arrangements with an oil company to take the Navy's land, pump the oil, with the company keeping some of the oil and the Navy getting the rest. In order for this lucrative opportunity, however, the oil company would also--in the case of the company that got the rights to the California property--build storage tanks in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and provide docking facilities and transportation of the oil, etc.

At this time, since the Department of the Interior had jurisdiction over federal lands, the Navy, and the Department of the Interior would work together on hiring oil companies. The Secretary of the Interior was Albert Fall. He had known Doheny since both had been gold miners.

The Navy approached Doheny and asked if he would take on this patriotic task. Around the same time, being strapped for cash on his public servant salary, Fall asked Doheney for a loan of $100,000.

Doing his patriotic duty, Doheny bid on taking over the California properties and won the right to get the oil out of both those properties, as well as the obligation to do the building at Pearl Harbor. Meanwhile oilman Harry Sinclair got the Teapot dome property--and also gave Fall money, lots of money, and not necessarily as loans.

Congress, fueled by angry envirnomentalists, charged Fall, Sinclair and Doheny with conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery. (Doheny and Fall are excellent examples of the history behind the business philosophy that permeates our world. Anything that is good for business is good for the country because nothing is better than increased profits, no matter who gets to spend them. Also, why shouldn't all natural resources in the West be at the disposal of man as were the natural resources of the East Coast when that area was developed?)

Interestingly, Fall is convicted of bribery for taking the $100,000 from Doheny, but Doheny was seen--by his jury--as a patriot trying to help his country by taking on the oil leases and as a friend helping a friend in loaning Fall the $100,000.

In the midst of the trials, Doheny's son, and the son's good friend, are found dead in a murder suicide. But who did the murder and the suicide? The case was closed at the time finding the friend the killer. From the facts as laid out in the book, though, it seems more likely that the friend was trying to leave the room, with a cigarette in his hand, when the son, sitting in a chair, shot him in the back then aimed the gun at his own head, leaving powder burns. After the event, the family delayed calling the police (warming the gun, possibly in an oven, to make it look like it had recently been shot) wiped away fingerprints and rehearsed the servants on how to answer police questions.

Also of note for me, in a letter to his friend Albert Fall, attempting to lift his friend's spirits during the time of the trials, Doheny describes how his father had to flee to Canada from his home country of Ireland to escape political persecution, which seemed--and felt at the time--as a bad thing. Yet as a result, his father met his mother--and if that hadn't happened, Doheny and all his blood family that he loved, would never have existed. p. 196.

[Gretchen Wiesner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story from rags to riches. The author made all parts of the story (oil business, oil scandal, California history, biographical detail) all very entertaining and easy to read. Nice find for a footnote in history.

[Whimsical · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book!!!!. It was so intriguing to read about this visionary. A wealthy oil man whose life and legacy is so tied into the history of Los Angeles. I was able to visit the his compound which is now a school, the cathedarl he built, the famous mansion, where the murder took place and the library bearing his name on the campus of USC in Los Angeles. I read this book many years ago and I would read it again!!!

[James Roman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a knockout! The man's life is an extraordinary tale, stranger than fiction; you can't make this stuff up. Much praise to Margaret Leslie Davis for unearthing so much history, and organizing it in such an engaging fashion.

I picked up this book for research on another topic, but found it so engrossing that I read it like a novel.

[Walker Karraa · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED it!