ontana in 1924. Born and raised in the western state, he had worked his way through the University of Michigan and become a lawyer, much as had Harry Daugherty. Wheeler was squarely in the progressive corner and was often labeled a radical. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1922, he had not yet made an impression in January of 1924. In his memoirs, he labelled his February 20, 1924 speech as the most important of his career, since it brought him the notice he desired. Although he started with no personal vendetta against Daugherty, his efforts to oust the Attorney General quickly acquired such a taint (Wheeler, 1962, p. 213).
Daugherty's resignation had been called for in the House of Representatives a year previously, but Daugherty had refused to even consider the notion and President Coolidge, who had succeeded Harding after the latter's death in office, was unwilling to ask for it. Since that call, however, the Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys had commenced hearings into the leasing of the naval oil reserves. The revelations in those hea
...