On January 23, the Twentieth Amendment, which sets dates for the beginning of presidential and congressional terms, becomes law with its ratification by Utah.

Chicago gangster Al Capone is convicted of tax evasion on October 18 and is later sent to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

On November 7, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover of California becomes the thirty-first President of the U.S.

On May 20-21, Charles Lindbergh (Minnesota) flies solo across the Atlantic from New York to Paris.