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Charles Joseph Bonaparte
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Bonaparte, Charles Joseph
Bonaparte, Charles Joseph Charles Joseph Bonaparte, c. 1903.

Charles Joseph Bonaparte

United States attorney general
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Born:
June 9, 1851, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died:
June 28, 1921, Baltimore
House / Dynasty:
Bonaparte family
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Charles Joseph Bonaparte (born June 9, 1851, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.—died June 28, 1921, Baltimore) was a lawyer and grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte, youngest brother of Napoleon; he became one of President Theodore Roosevelt’s chief “trust-busters” as U.S. attorney general.

After graduating from Harvard Law School (1872), Bonaparte began the practice of law in Baltimore in 1874. He was active in organizations advocating municipal and civil service reform, which gained him the admiration of Roosevelt, who was then a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Upon Roosevelt’s accession to the presidency, Bonaparte served as secretary of the navy (1905–06) and as attorney general (1906–09). In the latter post he established the Federal Bureau of Investigation (originally the Bureau of Investigation) and prosecuted numerous antitrust suits, most notably that which resulted in the dissolution in 1911 of the American Tobacco Company.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.