Charles Bonaparte

Who was Charles Bonaparte?

Charles Joseph Bonaparte was an American lawyer and political activist for progressive and liberal causes. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland. he served in the cabinet of the 26th U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt.

Bonaparte was the U.S. Secretary of the Navy and later the U.S. Attorney General. During his tenure as the attorney general, he created the Bureau of Investigation which later grew and expanded by the 1920s under the director J. Edgar Hoover, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, of which it was renamed as such in 1935. He was of Corsican ancestry, and a great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon.

Bonaparte was one of the founders, and for a time the president, of the National Municipal League. He was also a long time activist for the rights of the Negro people of his city and quite progressive and liberal.