The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) traces its origins
to this day in 1908, when U.S. Attorney General Charles
Bonaparte created a small group of federal investigators
to report to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch of the
Department of Justice, marking the official beginning
of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) under President
Theodore Roosevelt’s administration. 

Prior to this, the Justice Department had no permanent
investigative force and relied on private detectives or
personnel borrowed from the Secret.

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

Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre, notorious criminal
John Dillinger—America’s “Public Enemy No. 1″—was
killed in a hail of bullets fired by federal agents.

In a fiery bank-robbing career that lasted just over a year,
Dillinger and his associates robbed 11 banks for more
than $300,000, broke jail and narrowly escaped capture
multiple times, and killed seven police officers and three
federal agents.

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

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

From left is President Roosevelt with his Cabinet. Attorney General Bonaparte is the third from the left.

Based on outcry from parents who bought into what may have
started as an idle rumor, the FBI launched a formal investigation
in 1964 into the supposedly pornographic lyrics of the song
“Louie, Louie.”

The tune that would go on to become one of the most-covered
songs in rock-and-roll history.

The control room of SW Portland’s Northwestern Inc.
Motion Pictures and Recording, where The Kingsmen’s legendary “Louie Louie” was recorded.

John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972)

After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover died, leaving the powerful
government agency without the administrator who had been
largely responsible for its existence and shape.

Educated as a lawyer and a librarian, Hoover joined the
Department of Justice in 1917 and within two years had
become special assistant to Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer.

May 20, 1972