Charles Joseph Bonaparte Biography

Charles Joseph Bonaparte served as U.S. attorney general under President Theodore Roosevelt. Bonaparte, a prominent civic reformer, was the grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest brother of the French emperor Napoleon I. Bonaparte is best remembered for creating an office in the Department of Justice for criminal investigation, which later evolved into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Bonaparte was born on June 9, 1851, in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Harvard College in 1871 and from Harvard Law School in 1874. Admitted to the Maryland bar, Bonaparte established a private law practice in Baltimore. While in practice, Bonaparte became interested in civic reform. The Baltimore city government was regarded as one of the most corrupt in the United States. Bonaparte sought to change what was widely believed to be a national problem by helping to found the Civic Reform League in 1881. As part of this reform movement, Bonaparte urged citizens to take a more active and vigilant role in assessing the character of the people they elect public officials. Bonaparte also helped found another reform group, the National Municipal League. In 1905 he was elected president of this organization.

Bonaparte, though a member of the Republican Party, was not particularly political and never sought elective office. Though most attorneys general have had strong political ties to the president and the president's party, Bonaparte came to the attention of President Roosevelt because he shared the president's zeal for reform. Roosevelt had first entered New York City politics over the issue of municipal reform, so he and Bonaparte were well suited to each other. They became friendly associates after they met for the first time Baltimore in 1892 when they addressed the local civil service reform association. Roosevelt first named Bonaparte a member of an Indian tribal commission and then in 1905 named him Secretary of the Navy.

Roosevelt named Bonaparte attorney general in 1906, almost halfway through his second term of office. Roosevelt, who was known for his opposition to large corporations, asked Bonaparte to continue the "trust busting" of his two predecessors. Bonaparte led antitrust investigations into the conduct of Standard Oil, the American Tobacco Company, and the Union Pacific Railroad. During his term of office he argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1908, at the direction of Roosevelt, Bonaparte created a special force of agents within the Department of Justice. These agents, former detectives and Secret Service officers, were hired to investigate federal crimes. Bonaparte had become frustrated with using Secret Service agents, who were under the control of the chief of the Secret Service, to conduct investigations. When Congress enacted a law preventing the Department of Justice from using Secret Service operatives, Bonaparte created this new force. At the conclusion of his government service, Bonaparte recommended that the force of 34 agents become a permanent part of the department. His successor, attorney general George Wickersham, agreed and in 1909 named the force the Bureau of Investigation. This bureau grew over time, becoming the FBI in 1935. Bonaparte remained active in the civic reform movement after leaving office. He died in Baltimore on June 28, 1921.