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Harry F. Sinclair of Sinclair Oil
Harry Ford Sinclair was born in Wheeling, W.Va. USA., 6 July 1876. He died in Pasadena, California 10 November 1956. Harry was a US oil producer. Sinclair started out to become a pharmacist and entered the drug business with his father. In 1901 he went into the oil business. Harry was a colourful character. Together with Edward White he started the Sinclair and White Oil Company. After forcing White into a subservient role Harry set up (1916) two oil firms: the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation and the Sinclair Gulf Corporation. He combined these enterprises into the Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation (later Atlantic Richfield) and in 1919 became its president. He dreamed of becoming bigger than Rockefeller. Harry flew in private aircraft, at a time when other oil barons were still earthbound. Harry went to the new Soviet Union, met Lenin, and promised to raise money via bond issues in exchange for oil rights in Siberia. When Harry Sinclair returned to New York with his retinue of 80 odd he found that he was the key participant in the Teapot Oil Dome scandal of 1923. He allegedly bribed the United States Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall by giving Fall's assistant the then princely sum of US$100,000, for which he acquired the rights to the Elk Hills and Teapot Dome US Navy oil reserves. He was acquitted of bribery charges but later was given a 9-month prison sentence for contempt of court and of Congress, a term he served in 1927.Last changed: 99/11/21 14:40:41
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