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Join Wundry Plus in the Wundery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's 2 a 2 a.m. on June 12th, 1920, the final day of the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

Harry Doherty is roaming the halls of the Congress Hotel searching for Senator Warren G Harding.

Just a few minutes ago, the GOP's top power brokers decided that Harding would be the party's

next presidential nominee.

And as his campaign manager, Doherty has been assigned to find Harding and bring him to a secret

late night meeting of Republican Party leaders and top donors so they can give him the news.

It's been a long day following a long week and Doherty is exhausted.

But as he weaves his way around the hotel's smoky parlors and endless corridors,

Doherty can't help but grin.

Five days ago, when the Convention first began, Harding was a dark horse contender with 40 to one

odds stacked against him.

But Doherty was certain that Harding would emerge from the Convention as the

Republican nominee, and he told the press as much. What Doherty didn't tell them was that he'd

brokered a secret deal to make sure of it. Months before the convention began, Doherty met with an Oklahoma oil

tycoon named Jake Hayman, who was offering $1 million to buy the delegates

Harding needed to secure the nomination, but he had one condition.

If elected, Hayman wanted a position in Harding's cabinet, specifically the Secretary of Interior. Among other things, the Secretary of Interior is the gatekeeper for all the country's

federal lands and resources, including its oil fields.

And once in office, Hayman plans to open the federally protected oil fields to private drilling,

leasing them out to his friends in the oil business in exchange for hefty kickbacks.

Do already assured Hayman that Harding was a get-along guy who would be happy to help the people who helped him,

...