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The Palmer Raids begin, launching a period of intense government persecution of radical political dissidents in response to the postwar Red Scare sweeping the nation.
They were the U.S department of justice's attempts to capture and get rid of radical leftists (Left-Wing politicians), especially anarchists. The arrests and raids happened under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer(to the left). -
The Senate refuses to ratify the Versailles Treaty or authorize United States participation in the League of Nations.
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The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, granting women the right to vote.
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Republican Warren G. Harding is elected to the presidency by a landslide. Harding wins 60% of the popular vote and 75% of the electoral vote; Democrat James Cox wins only a handful of states in the South.
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Congress passes immigration restrictions, for the first time creating a portion for European immigration to the United States. Targeted at "undesirable" immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, the act sharply curtails the quota for those areas while retaining a generous allowance for migrants from Northern and Western Europe.
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Congress passes the Fordney-McCumber Tariff, sharply raising tariff duties to protect the American market for American manufactures. The tariff boosts the domestic economy of the Roaring Twenties, but it also worsens the crisis for struggling European economies
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President Warren G. Harding dies of stroke in a San Francisco hotel room. Vice President Calvin Coolidge ascends to presidency.
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Aviator Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo transatlantic flight, landing his "Spirit of Saint Louis" in Paris 33 hours after departing from New York. Lindbergh becomes a national hero.
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With all possible avenues of appeal now exhausted, Italian immigrant radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed by electric chair.
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Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer, the first "talking" motion picture, premieres, marking the beginning of the end of the silent film era.
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Fifteen nations, including the United States, sign the Kellogg-Briand pact "outlawing" war.
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Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres, introducing the world to a new animated character—Mickey Mouse
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The American stock market collapses, signaling the onset of the Great Depression.
