The period of American history following the First World War was a time of economic boom, but also one of social angst and distrust. The American economy was growing, while Europe struggled to rebuild a devastated industrial infrastructure from the war. Still, many Americans saw the war as representative of why America should be focused on traditional American values and traditions. Many nativists saw this push for conservatism difficult to maintain as a result of the large influx of immigrants that entered the United States from Italy and Eastern Europe. These immigrants were seeking economic opportunity in the growing factories as well as personal freedom that was not extended to them in their homelands. As President Warren G. Harding called for America to have a “return to normalcy,” politicians fought to quell the fears of their constituents that the immigrant was there to transform America into a more liberal, even communist, one nation that would entangle the country in Europe’s affairs. Congress’s first attempt to quell this sudden rush was the Immigration Act of 1924, which sought to establish quotas on the number of immigrants from specific countries coming into the United States.