SINCLAIR HELD IN CONTEMPT BY SENATE OIL COMMITTEE FOR REFUSAL TO TESTIFY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 22, 1924, the United States Senate oil committee "voted unanimously...to certify Harry F. Sinclair*...for contempt" because he refused to "testify further before the committee."
Will H. Hays submitted "a flat denial of the story that Sinclair had contributed a large batch of oil stocks to wipe out the deficit in the republican party treasury."
Mr. Sinclair's refusal to provide further testimony before the committee came after it "overruled unanimously" the objections of his attorneys.
JFK+50 NOTE
Harry F. Sinclair's contempt citation by the U.S. Senate was upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court in 1929 & he served prison time as a result.
Although HFS appeared several times before the committee, his refusal to answer a question on March 22 1924 in regard to a contract associated with the Teapot Dome scandal resulted in the contempt citation.
*Harry Ford Sinclair (1876-1956) was born in Benwood, West Virginia & grew up in Independence, Kansas. HFS attended the University of Kansas & formed the Sinclair Oil Company in 1916. By the close of the 1920s SOC was producing 80,000 barrels of oil per day.
SOURCES
"Harry Sinclair To Serve Term For His Silence," The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Alabama, April 9, 1929, www.newspapers.com/
"Sinclair Refused To Testify Brings Contempt Action Vote By Senators," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 22, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
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