Little Green House on K Street
The Little Green House on K Street was a residence at 1625 K Street, NW, in Washington, DC, USA, that served as the unofficial headquarters of the Ohio Gang during the Presidential Administration of Warren G. Harding.[1] The name itself entered the American lexicon as a symbol of political corruption.[2] The Chicago Tribune described the home as one of "the symbols of a nation's disgrace."[3] The house was the site of the planning for what became known as the Teapot Dome Scandal.[4][5]
History
The house was constructed by J. B. Edmonds of Iowa, a retired attorney, in 1880 for US$17,000.
During the early 1920s, it was rented by associates of Attorney General Harry Daugherty, including Jess Smith and Howard Mannington, and served as the location for numerous Presidential poker parties.[6] Many of the corrupt deals of Harding's associates were allegedly hatched there, according to testimony before the Senate Committee investigating the Teapot Dome Scandal.[7]
The building was razed in 1941 to make way for the 12-story Commonwealth Building.[8]
Legacy
The house became synonymous with political cronyism. In 1934, Congressman Fred Britten of Illinois famously compared the Red House on R Street in Georgetown, where the original New Dealers strategized during the early years of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, to the Little Green House on K Street.[9][10] The R Street address became known as the Brain Trust's Little Green House on K Street.[10][11][12]
During the scandal involving the extramarital affairs of Senator John Ensign and Congressman Chip Pickering in 2009, commentators frequently compared their C Street homes to the Little Green House on K Street.[13][14]
Notes
- ↑ "Mannington is Mystery Man in Mystery House," Chicago Daily Tribune, March 23, 1924
- ↑ "The Little Green House Loses Its Secretiveness", The New York Times, September 2, 1931
- ↑ What Sacrifice, Mr. Willkie? Chicago Tribune, Oct 1, 1940
- ↑ Davis, Hilda Emery; and Davis, Garry. "Letters to World Citizens", p. 50. World Government House, 2004. ISBN 0-9706483-7-5. Accessed October 12, 2009.
- ↑ McCartney, Laton. "The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country", p. 72. Random House, 2009. ISBN 0-8129-7337-2. Accessed October 12, 2009.
- ↑ Wolcott Gibbs, Comment, The New Yorker, October 12, 1940
- ↑ New Light Shed on Deals of New York Liquor Rings, Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1924
- ↑ Boese, Kent. "Lost Washington: The Little Green House", Greater Greater Washington. Accessed October 12, 2009.
- ↑ "Britten Names Hideaway of Brain Trust," Chicago Daily Tribune, August 21, 1934
- 1 2 "New Deal Run In 'Little Red House' Is Charge Hurled On House Floor" Hartford Courant, August 21, 1934
- ↑ Moore, William. Mrs. Roosevelt in R Street House? Chicago Daily Tribune, May 8, 1943
- ↑ Knox Explains Dinner at Mystery House, Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1943
- ↑ Cal Thomas, Faithful Fellowship on C Street, The Washington Post, June 26, 2009
- ↑ Jacob M. Appel, Hate the Husband? Sue the Mistress, October 6, 2009
Sources
- Dean, John W. Warren G. Harding (The American Presidents Series). Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2004
- Downes Randolph C. The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1865–1920. Ohio University Press, 1970
- Ferrell, Robert H. The Strange Deaths of Warren G. Harding, Columbia:MO, University of Missouri Press, 1998
- Murray Robert K. The Harding Era 1921-1923: Warren G. Harding and his Administration. University of Minnesota Press, 1969
- Russell, Francis (1968). The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding and His Times. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 39–40, 403–405. ISBN 0-07-054338-0.
- Sinclair, Andrew. The Available Man: The Life behind the Masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding 1965 online full-scale biography
External links
Coordinates: 38°54′10.2″N 77°2′14.4″W / 38.902833°N 77.037333°W