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{{Short description|American lawyer and political activist (1851–1921)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Charles Joseph Bonaparte
|image        = CJBonaparte.jpg
|caption      = Bonaparte, {{circa}} 1903
|office       = 46th [[United States Attorney General]]
|president    = [[Theodore Roosevelt]]
|term_start   = December 17, 1906
|term_end     = March 4, 1909
|predecessor  = [[William Henry Moody|William Moody]]
|successor    = [[George W. Wickersham]]
|office1      = 37th [[United States Secretary of the Navy]]
|president1   = [[Theodore Roosevelt]]
|term_start1  = July 1, 1905
|term_end1    = December 16, 1906
|predecessor1 = [[Paul Morton (politician)|Paul Morton]]
|successor1   = [[Victor H. Metcalf]]
|birth_name   = Charles Joseph Bonaparte
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1851|6|9}}
|birth_place  = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1921|6|28|1851|6|9}}
|death_place  = [[Baltimore County, Maryland]], U.S.
|resting_place = [[Loudon Park Cemetery]]
|party        = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|spouse       = {{marriage|[[Ellen Channing Day]]|1875}}
|parents    = [[Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte]] <br>[[Susan May Williams]]<br>
|relatives  = ''See [[House of Bonaparte|Bonaparte family]]''
|education    = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
}}

'''Charles Joseph Bonaparte''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|oʊ|n|ə|p|ɑr|t}} {{respell|BOH|nə|part}}; June 9, 1851{{spaced ndash}}June 28, 1921) was an American lawyer and political activist of French noble descent who advocated for progressive and liberal causes. Originally from [[Baltimore]], Maryland, he served in the [[Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt#Cabinet|cabinet]] of the 26th [[President of the United States|U.S. president]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]].

He was a descendant of the [[House of Bonaparte]]. His grandfather was [[Jérôme Bonaparte]], brother of Emperor [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]],<ref>{{Cite book |first=Frank |last=McLynn |title=Napoleon |publisher=Pimlico |year=1998|page=2|isbn=0-7126-6247-2|id={{ASIN|0712662472|country=uk}}}}</ref> and his grandmother was Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte.

Bonaparte was the [[United States Secretary of the Navy|U.S. Secretary of the Navy]] and later the [[Attorney General of the United States|U.S. Attorney General]].<ref name="MSBA">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MI8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA43 |title=Annual Report of the Maryland State Bar Association |volume=26 |publisher=Maryland State Bar Association |year=1921 |pages=43–45}}</ref> During his tenure as Attorney General, he formed the Bureau of Investigation (now the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/historic_doc/docstar.htm |title=FBI — 1935 Washington Star Article |publisher=Fbi.gov |access-date=August 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411043042/http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/historic_doc/docstar.htm |archive-date=April 11, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Shahab Keshavarz |url=http://www.italianhistorical.org/page61.html |title=Charles J. Bonaparte |publisher=Italian Historical Society of America |access-date=August 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408211617/http://www.italianhistorical.org/page61.html |archive-date=April 8, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Bonaparte was one of the founders and for a time the president, of the [[National Municipal League]]. He was also an activist for the voting rights of black residents of his native city of [[Baltimore]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://baltimoreheritage.github.io/civil-rights-heritage/overview/1885-1929/ |title=Baltimore's Civil Rights Heritage (1885–1929) |publisher=baltimoreheritage.github.io |access-date=February 20, 2019|quote=''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.").}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Charles Joseph Bonaparte.svg|150px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Charles Joseph Bonaparte]]
Bonaparte was born in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], on June 9, 1851, the son of [[Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte|Jérôme ("Bo") Napoleon Bonaparte]] (1805–1870), and [[Susan May Williams]] (1812–1881), from whom the American line of the [[House of Bonaparte]] descended, and a grandson of [[Jérôme Bonaparte]], [[Kingdom of Westphalia|King of Westphalia]], the youngest brother of French emperor [[Napoleon]]. However, the American Bonapartes never used any titles.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Bonaparte graduated from [[Harvard College]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] in 1871 and lived in [[Grays Hall]] during his freshman year. He was also the founding president of the [[Signet Society]], a literary and art recognition final club at Harvard.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1875 |title=The Harvard book: a series of historical, biographical, and descriptive sketches |url=http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~signet/history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050211034809/https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~signet/history.htm |archive-date=February 11, 2005 |access-date=January 3, 2025 |website=www.hcs.harvard.edu |page=414}}</ref> 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==
In 1899, Bonaparte was the keynote speaker for the first graduating class of the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] women's institution run by the Order of the [[School Sisters of Notre Dame]], the [[Notre Dame of Maryland University|College of Notre Dame of Maryland]] (now Notre Dame of Maryland University). He spoke on "The Significance of the Bachelor's Degree".

[[file:Bella Vista in 1907.jpg|thumb|left|Bella Vista in 1907]]
Bonaparte lived in a townhouse in the north Baltimore neighborhood of [[Mount Vernon, Baltimore|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.<ref name="BCPL">{{cite web|url=http://external.bcpl.lib.md.us/hcdo/cfdocs/photopage.cfm?id=13751 |title=Houses – Bella Vista |publisher=Baltimore County Public Library Legacy Web |access-date=October 12, 2011 |last=Kelly |first=Jacques |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930192843/https://external.bcpl.lib.md.us/hcdo/cfdocs/photopage.cfm?id=13751 |archive-date=September 30, 2011 }}</ref> It lies east of the Harford Road ([[Maryland Route 147]]) in an area called [[Glen Arm, Maryland|Glen Arm]]. The house was not electrified since Bonaparte refused to have electricity or telegraph lines installed due to a dislike of technology, verified by his use of a horse-drawn coach until he died in the early 1920s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/brief-history/docs_star1935 |title=Bonaparte Founded G-Men |publisher=FBI |author=Don Bloch |date=August 18, 1935 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510184534/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/brief-history/docs_star1935 |archive-date=May 10, 2012 |access-date=June 6, 2012 }}</ref>

===Politics===
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 [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] ousted many [[Democratic Party (United States)|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 [[Electoral College (United States)|presidential elector]].<ref>[http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000031/000000/html/00000001.html Too Close to Call: Presidential Electors and Elections in Maryland, featuring the Presidential Election of 1904. Archives of Maryland Documents for the Classroom.]</ref> [[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.<ref>{{cite web |work=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |title=1904 Presidential Electors - Maryland |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/electors.php?year=1904&fips=24&f=0&off=0&elect=0}}</ref> Thus Bonaparte was the only Republican elector from Maryland, which may have reflected his reputation.

In 1905, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] appointed Bonaparte [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]]. In 1906 Bonaparte moved to the office of [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]], which he held until the end of Roosevelt's term. He was active in suits brought against the [[Trust (business)|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 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|Bureau of Investigation]] (BOI) within the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]]. The BOI later became the FBI.

In the [[1912 United States presidential election]], Bonaparte supported the [[Bull Moose party]] of Theodore Roosevelt.<ref>{{cite book|title=Charles Joseph Bonaparte, his life and public services|pages=256–267}}</ref>

==Personal life==
On September 1, 1875, in [[Newport, Rhode Island]], Bonaparte married [[Ellen Channing Day]] ([[Hartford, Connecticut]], September 25, 1852 – Washington, D.C., June 23, 1924), daughter of attorney Thomas Mills Day and wife 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]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher= University of Notre Dame |title=Recipients {{!}} The Laetare Medal |url=https://laetare.nd.edu/recipients/#info1903 |access-date=2 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Death==
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 (disambiguation)|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 [[Rum-running|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.<ref name=BCPL />

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Bishop |first=Joseph Bucklin |title=Charles Joseph Bonaparte: His Life and Public Services |year=1922 |publisher=C. Scribner's Sons |location=New York |lccn=22024561 |oclc=3178193}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldman |first=Eric F. |title=Charles J. Bonaparte: Patrician Reformer, His Earlier Career |year=1943 |publisher=Johns Hopkins Press |location=Baltimore |lccn=43014187 |oclc=639278}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category|Charles Joseph Bonaparte}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles Joseph Bonaparte |sopt=t}}
* {{find a Grave|7756159|Charles Joseph Bonaparte}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120409135116/http://ghostsofdc.org/2012/04/09/if-walls-could-talk-chateau-bonaparte-on-k-street/ If Walls Could Talk: Chateau Bonaparte on K Street] – ''Ghosts of D.C.'' blog post on the Bonaparte residence in Washington, DC

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{{s-bef|before=[[Paul Morton (politician)|Paul Morton]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Secretary of the Navy]]|years=1905–1906}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Victor H. Metcalf]]}}
|-
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before=[[William H. Moody]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Attorney General]]|years=1906–1909}}
{{s-aft|after=[[George W. Wickersham]]}}
{{s-end}}

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{{Special prosecutors and independent counsels of the U.S.}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte, Charles Joseph}}
[[Category:1851 births]]
[[Category:1921 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:American people of Corsican descent]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic University of America trustees]]
[[Category:Civil service reform in the United States]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Laetare Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Baltimore]]
[[Category:Maryland Republicans]]
[[Category:Patterson family (Maryland)]]
[[Category:People of Tuscan descent]]
[[Category:Princes of France (Bonaparte)|Charles Joseph Bonaparte]]
[[Category:Special prosecutors]]
[[Category:Theodore Roosevelt administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of the United States]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of the navy]]
[[Category:College honor society founders]]
[[Category:Burials at Loudon Park Cemetery]]