President Roosevelt (left) with his Cabinet.

On July 26, 1908, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 
was born when U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte (below) 
orders a group of newly hired federal investigators to report to
Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch of the Department of Justice.

One year later, the Office of the Chief Examiner was renamed
the Bureau of Investigation, and in 1935 it became the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.

  
Charles Joseph Bonaparte 
(June 9, 1851 – June 28, 1921)

Stanley Wellington Finch
(July 20, 1872 – 22 November 1951)

The Bureau’s first home, the Department of Justice building
at 1435 K Street in N.W. Washington, D.C.