Today is Sunday July 26th, 2020.

On this day in 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte founded the Federal Investigative Agency that eventually

became the FBI. Welcome to today in True Crime, a parcast original.

Today we're covering how Bonaparte put together a group of special agents for the Department of Justice, which later grew into the FBI.

Not a crime, obviously, but an important moment in the history of law enforcement in the United States.

Let's go back to Washington, D.C. on July 26, 1908. 57 year old Charles Bonaparte paced back and forth in his office.

His secretary waited patiently for his dictation sitting by a typewriter.

He was trying to find the right words.

This was a monumental moment, not just for him,

but for the Department of Justice.

During the past year, Bonaparte struggled to find a team to investigate the rising crime and corruption.

Lacking his own full-time officers, he often borrowed secret service operatives for field work.

That was until he used those agents to investigate potential congressional cover-ups.

As a result, Congress banned Bonaparte from using the Secret Service on May 27, 1908.

But the action turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

After that, President Theodore Roosevelt granted Bonaparte permission to hire his own team of investigators,

and at last he was ready to formally announce it.

Finally, the words started coming to Bonaparte. He ordered all DOJ attorneys to direct their investigative inquiries to Chief

Examiner Stanley Finch.

Bonaparte bestowed Finch with the power to use this new team of 34 special agents,

who were mostly Secret Service service veterans for investigations at his discretion.

Much like today's FBI agents, Bonaparte hired operatives who were physically fit, highly intelligent, well educated, and skilled in a foreign language.

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