American lawyer (1851?1921)
Charles Bonaparte
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|
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In office
December 17, 1906 ? March 4, 1909
|
President
| Theodore Roosevelt
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Preceded by
| William Moody
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Succeeded by
| George W. Wickersham
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|
In office
July 1, 1905 ? December 16, 1906
|
President
| Theodore Roosevelt
|
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Preceded by
| Paul Morton
|
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Succeeded by
| Victor H. Metcalf
|
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|
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Born
| Charles Joseph Bonaparte
(
1851-06-09
)
June 9, 1851
Baltimore
,
Maryland
, U.S.
|
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Died
| June 28, 1921
(1921-06-28)
(aged 70)
Baltimore County, Maryland
, U.S.
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Resting place
| Loudon Park Cemetery
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Political party
| Republican
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Spouse
|
Ellen Channing Day
(
m.
1875)
|
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Relatives
| Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte
(father)
Susan May Williams
(mother)
See
Bonaparte family
|
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Education
| Harvard University
(
BA
,
LLB
)
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|
Charles Joseph Bonaparte
(
; June 9, 1851 – June 28, 1921) 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
. He was a descendant of the
House of Bonaparte
: his grandfather was
Jerome Bonaparte
, brother of Emperor
Napoleon
.
[1]
Bonaparte was the
U.S. Secretary of the Navy
and later the
U.S. Attorney General
.
[2]
During his tenure as Attorney General, he created the Bureau of Investigation (now the
FBI
).
[3]
[4]
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 black residents of his native city of Baltimore.
[5]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Bonaparte was born in
Baltimore, Maryland
, on June 9, 1851, the son of
Jerome ("Bo") Napoleon Bonaparte
(1805?1870), and
Susan May Williams
(1812?1881), from whom the American line of the
Bonaparte
family descended, and a grandson of
Jerome Bonaparte
,
King of Westphalia
, the youngest brother of French emperor
Napoleon
. However, the American Bonapartes were not considered part of the dynasty and never used any titles.
Bonaparte graduated from
Harvard College
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
in 1871 and lived in
Grays Hall
during his freshman year. He then continued to
Harvard Law School
, where he later served as a university overseer. He practiced law in Baltimore and became prominent in municipal and national reform movements.
Career
[
edit
]
In 1899, Bonaparte was the keynote speaker for the first graduating class of the Roman Catholic women's institution run by the Order of the
School Sisters of Notre Dame
, the
College of Notre Dame of Maryland
(now Notre Dame of Maryland University). He spoke on "The Significance of the Bachelor's Degree".
Bonaparte lived in a townhouse in the north Baltimore neighborhood of
Mount Vernon-Belvedere
and had a country estate in suburban
Baltimore County, Maryland
, which surrounds the city on the west, north and east. His home, Bella Vista, was designed by the architects
James Bosley Noel Wyatt
(1847?1926) and
William G. Nolting
(1866?1940), in the prominent local architectural partnership firm of
Wyatt & Nolting
in 1896.
[6]
It lies east of the Harford Road (
Maryland Route 147
) in an area called
Glen Arm
. The house was not electrified since Bonaparte refused to have electricity or telegraph lines installed from a dislike of technology, verified by his use of horse-drawn coach until his death in the early 1920s.
[7]
Politics
[
edit
]
Bonaparte was a founder of the Reform League of Baltimore, organized in 1885. The League gained a clean sweep of municipal elections in 1895: long-time minority progressive liberal Republicans ousted many Democratic machine politicians in heavily Democratic wards. The League men governed with clean hands for a brief time, providing a certain amount of efficient municipal government.
Bonaparte was a member of the
Board of Indian Commissioners
from 1902 to 1904, chairman of the
National Civil Service Reform League
in 1904, and appointed a trustee of
Catholic University of America
in
Washington, D.C.
In the
1904 United States presidential election
, Bonaparte was named one of eight Republican candidates for
presidential elector
.
[8]
Maryland at this time chose electors individually, in an at-large election. In an unusual result, Bonaparte got the most votes of any candidate, narrowly outpolling the eight Democrat candidates, who narrowly outpolled the other seven Republicans.
[9]
Thus Bonaparte was the only Republican elector from Maryland, which may have reflected his personal reputation.
In 1905, President
Theodore Roosevelt
appointed Bonaparte
Secretary of the Navy
. In 1906 Bonaparte moved to the office of
Attorney General
, which he held until the end of Roosevelt's term. He was active in suits brought against the
trusts
and initiated the suit which broke up the monopolistic
American Tobacco Company
. He became known as "Charlie, the Crook Chaser". In 1908, Bonaparte established a
Bureau of Investigation
(BOI) within the
Department of Justice
, under the direction of the Attorney General himself. The BOI later became the FBI.
In the
1912 United States presidential election
, Bonaparte supported the
Bull Moose party
of Theodore Roosevelt.
[10]
Personal life
[
edit
]
On September 1, 1875, Bonaparte married Ellen Channing Day (1852?1924), daughter of attorney Thomas Mills Day and Anna Jones Dunn. They had no children.
In 1903, he was awarded the
Laetare Medal
by the
University of Notre Dame
, the oldest and most prestigious award for
American Catholics
.
[11]
Death
[
edit
]
Bonaparte died in Bella Vista at age 70 and is interred at southwest Baltimore's landmark
Loudon Park Cemetery
. He died of "
Saint Vitus' dance
", a nonspecific term used at the time to refer to
chorea
. A nearby street in
Baltimore County
bears the name of Bonaparte Avenue.
After Bonaparte's death, the house was later owned by
bootleggers
Peter and Michael Kelly. After they left, it was destroyed in a fire caused by faulty wiring on January 20, 1933. The site was replaced by a poured concrete mansion, but a large
carriage house
, dating back to 1896, is still on the estate.
[6]
Sources
[
edit
]
- Bishop, Joseph Bucklin (1922),
Charles Joseph Bonaparte: His Life and Public Services
, New York: C. Scribner's Sons
- Goldman, Eric F. (1943),
Charles J. Bonaparte: Patrician Reformer, His Earlier Career
, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press
References
[
edit
]
- ^
McLynn, Frank (1998).
Napoleon
. Pimlico. p. 2.
ISBN
0-7126-6247-2
.
ASIN
0712662472
.
- ^
Annual Report of the Maryland State Bar Association
. Vol. 26. Maryland State Bar Association. 1921. pp. 43?45.
- ^
"FBI ? 1935 Washington Star Article"
. Fbi.gov. Archived from
the original
on April 11, 2010
. Retrieved
August 16,
2013
.
- ^
Shahab Keshavarz.
"Charles J. Bonaparte"
. Italian Historical Society of America. Archived from
the original
on April 8, 2014
. Retrieved
August 16,
2013
.
- ^
"Baltimore's Civil Rights Heritage (1885?1929)"
. baltimoreheritage.github.io
. Retrieved
February 20,
2019
.
White Republican party leaders, including prominent Baltimore lawyer Charles J. Bonaparte, also played a role in rallying opposition to these proposals. Historian Jane L. Phelps noted Bonaparte's opposition to the Poe and Strauss Amendments in 1905 and 1908
(Phelps, "Charles J. Bonaparte and Negro Suffrage in Maryland.") <56>.
- ^
a
b
Kelly, Jacques.
"Houses ? Bella Vista"
. Baltimore County Public Library Legacy Web. Archived from
the original
on September 30, 2011
. Retrieved
October 12,
2011
.
- ^
Don Bloch (August 18, 1935).
"Bonaparte Founded G-Men"
. FBI.
Archived
from the original on May 10, 2012
. Retrieved
June 6,
2012
.
- ^
Too Close to Call: Presidential Electors and Elections in Maryland, featuring the Presidential Election of 1904. Archives of Maryland Documents for the Classroom.
- ^
"1904 Presidential Electors - Maryland"
.
Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
.
- ^
Charles Joseph Bonaparte, his life and public services
. pp. 256?267.
- ^
"Recipients | The Laetare Medal"
. University of Notre Dame
. Retrieved
August 2,
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]
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