Did you know that it was Napoleon's grandnephew who created the ancestor of the FBI?

[Julie4]

Charles Joseph Bonaparte, born June 9, 1851 in Baltimore, Maryland, and died June 28, 1921 in Baltimore County, was an American politician and the grand-nephew of Napoleon I. He was a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Republican Party, he was Secretary of the Navy between 1905 and 1906, then Attorney General of the United States between 1906 and 1909 in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt.


Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the son of Susan May Williams (1812-1881), daughter of a wealthy Baltimore businessman, and Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte (1805-1870). The latter was the son of Jerome Bonaparte, the younger brother of Emperor Napoleon I, and his first wife, Elizabeth Patterson, with whom he had married during a visit to New York in 1803.

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to his cabinet as Secretary of the Navy. Then, from 1906 until the end of President Roosevelt's term, he was Attorney General of the United States. He was active in prosecuting the trusts, and was one of the main architects of the end of the tobacco monopoly. On July 26, 1908, he created the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), forerunner of today's FBI, hiring the first ten agents in its history.

[Anonymous]

Interesting guy. Kind of gross how privileged he was. It was also unsurprising. Most of the people in politics are just rich yuppies who are connected. I always wonder how they get appointed to their positions. And then , after looking at their background, and who their parents are, I usually have my answer.

Secretary of the Navy. Christ, Roosevelt was only Assistant Secretary of the Navy—and he read Mahan like a fiend and was obsessed with naval power.

Hmmm. A short read on Bonaparte says that:

”In the 1904 United States presidential election, Bonaparte was named one of eight Republican candidates for presidential elector. 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.”

And there’s more:

”The vote in Maryland was extremely close. For the first time in that state's history, secret paper ballots, supplied at public expense, and without political symbols of any kind, were issued to each voter. Candidates for Electors were listed under the presidential and vice presidential candidates for each party; there were four parties recognized in the election: Democratic, Republican, Prohibition, and Socialist. Voters were free to mark their ballots for up to eight candidates of any party. While Roosevelt's victory nationally was quickly determined, the election in Maryland remained in doubt for several weeks. On November 30, Roosevelt was declared the statewide victor by just 51 votes. However, as voters had voted for individual presidential electors, only one Republican elector, Charles Bonaparte, survived the tally.”

And then, having won his first presidential race in the election of 1904–with a little help from Maryland—one Charles Bonaparte was made Secretary of the Navy in 1905. It’s totally not a reward for his political support in a state that he Roosevelt won narrowly.

😉

[KostasKouvalis]

No, I didn't even know he had relatives here, but that's really cool. And I'm honestly not surprised. I visited Quebec City recently, and a lot of the things we have in the US and Canada are due to the French

[Julie4]

Well, I think Charles must have considered himself American. But I'm not sure. It was Napoleon's brother who abandoned his post and went to the US and married an American. Napoleon was furious with his brother. 🤣

[KostasKouvalis]

I didn't know any of that.

[Julie4]

Appart for Quebec but for the rest of the usa has been largely influenced by England, the contribution of France to America is infinitesimal.

[KostasKouvalis]

But the French achieved many firsts in North America

[Julie4]

Yes, but we lost the Seven Years' War lol

[KostasKouvalis]

I know, yet some how Quebec is still French speaking LMAO

[Julie4]

They're resisting lol

[KostasKouvalis]

You guys always do! People still speak French in Louisiana and Maine too probably. And St. Pierre and Miquelon survived the war. LOL

[Julie4]

Yes, there are some parts that have done rather well.

[purplepoppy]

I never knew that but I do wonder how it is to live in the shadow of a famous ancestor.

[RyanEC]

I had no idea.
Beyond Napoleon the 4th who died in the boar war I don’t really know much.

[Julie4]

It was Napoleon's brother who abandoned his post and went to the US and married an American. Napoleon was furious with his brother.

[RyanEC]

I didn’t know that.
What do you think about the modern Bonapartes?

[Julie4]

I don't think much of the modern Bonaparte, I'm sure they're still brilliant people, but I don't know what they're going to do exactly.

[exitseven]

I never knew that. I guess it pays to be related to a famous French General. I did know that the Lone Ranger's grand nephew was the Green Hornet.

[Dargil]

Fascinating. But did he carry a pair of his wife's seasoned underwear with him?

[RavVid]

That is quite a fascinating story.