In October 1924 Roger Baldwin, president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), assured President Calvin Coolidge that J. Edgar Hoover would be a good choice for the post of permanent director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Hoover's predecessor,

William J. Burns, had been fired for political corruption.

On 23 November 1922 Pierce Butler of Minnesota was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding. Because of Butler's record as a reactionary "railroad lawyer," a coalition of Democratic and liberal Republican senators managed to block a confirmation vote during the Congressional session that concluded in December 1922, but by the time the next session convened in January 1923, Butler's supporters in the Senate had gained the additional eight votes they needed to confirm his appointment.

In Anniston, Alabama, on 30 July 1920 Sgt. Eugene Caldwell, a black soldier, was hanged by civil authorities...