Harry Micajah Daugherty

DAUGHERTY, HARRY MICAJAH

Harry Micajah Daugherty served as the 51st attorney general of the United States, under
Presidents WARREN G. HARDING and CALVIN COOLIDGE, but left office with his reputation forever tainted by accusations of political corruption and scandal.
Daugherty was born in Ohio on January 26,
1860, in a town called Washington Court House.
He received his law degree in 1881 from the Uni-
versity of Michigan.He moved back to Ohio and
was admitted to the state bar. Daugherty began
practicing law in his hometown before entering
politics. Daugherty became township clerk and,
in 1890, was elected to the Ohio General Assem-
bly. The ambitious Daugherty served two terms
in the assembly before moving to Columbus in
1894. In Columbus he established a lucrative
corporate law practice and continued to build
his connections within the REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Daugherty ran for state attorney general in 1895
and lost. In 1897, he failed in his attempt to
become governor of Ohio.
In 1902, Daugherty established the law firm
of Daugherty, Todd & Rarey; he remained a sen-
ior member of the firm until his appointment as
U.S. attorney general in 1921. Daugherty had become acquainted with rising Republican star Warren G. Harding, who served as lieutenant
governor of Ohio from 1904 to 1905. Daugherty
became involved in Harding’s campaigns, which
included an unsuccessful run for governor in
1910. Daugherty managed Harding’s successful
campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1914.
At the 1920 Republican Convention, a
standoff developed between supporters of the
presidential candidacies of former Army Chief
of Staff General Leonard Wood and Illinois
Governor Frank O. Lowden. Although Harding
had introduced no significant national legislation
and was not known for his leadership abilities,
Daugherty and a group of Harding’s
political supporters managed to position him as
the ideal compromise candidate to break the
deadlock.Harding was elected as the Republican
party nominee on the 10th ballot and went on to
become the 29th president of the United States.
In return for his help and support, Harding
appointed Daugherty U.S. attorney general in
1921.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice WILLIAM
HOWARD TAFT, faced with a backlog of cases in
the federal courts and efforts by some congressmen
to end lifetime tenure for federal judges,
had sought judicial reform by proposing the creation
of a conference of judges to assess lower
court needs. He also suggested the appointment
of at-large judges who could be assigned as
needed to various courts. Daugherty joined with
Taft to urge Congress to pass the proposed legislation.
In 1922, Congress established what ultimately
became the JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF
THE UNITED STATES.
Daugherty and many of the Ohio Republicans
who had helped Harding achieve the presidency
moved to Washington with him, and
became mired in allegations of corrupt selfenrichment
schemes. Harding’s sudden death in
August 1923 and the succession of Calvin
Coolidge as president happened just as the public
was beginning to become aware of the machinations
of those the press dubbed the “Ohio
Gang.”
Daugherty was acquitted of charges that he
was directly involved in the most famous of
these scandals, the TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL,
where the secretary of the interior was accused
of arranging for the private development of federally-
owned oil fields in return for a bribe of
$100,000. However, Daugherty’s failure to
aggressively prosecute those involved and further
allegations that he obstructed justice by trying
to block a congressional investigation
resulted in a loss of confidence in the attorney
general. An investigation led by Democratic
Senator Burton K.Wheeler of Montana resulted
in Daugherty’s resignation in March 1924.
In 1927, Daugherty was tried twice on
charges of engaging in graft and FRAUD while
serving as attorney general. Both cases ended in
a hung jury. Daugherty spent the rest of his life
practicing law in Ohio and attempting to rehabilitate
both his own reputation and that of
Harding. In 1932, he coauthored a book with
Thomas Dixon called The Inside Story of the
Harding Tragedy. Daugherty died of a heart
attack in Columbus, Ohio, on October 12, 1941,
at the age of 81.

FURTHER READINGS
Daugherty, Harry M., and Thomas Dixon. 1932. The Inside
Story of the Harding Tragedy. New York: Churchill.
U.S. Justice Department. 1985. Attorneys General of the
United States, 1789–1985. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office.

CROSS-REFERENCES
Teapot Dome Scandal.