Posted by Frenchie
During the past few years, the Federal Bureau Of Investigation aka FBI has come under a flurry of criticisms, many well deserved. The principal one being that some of the highest cadre of the agency have used the power of the Bureau, to threaten, intimidate and/or ensnare political opposition of the administrative State, mostly to defend or deflect criticism of major actors of the Democratic Party, including but not limited to the current administration. The President Elect in particular has been very vocal about the weaponization of the Bureau and the Justice Department to go after him and his supporters in several dossiers, which led many to feel that the country had drifted dangerously into habits more in tune with totalitarian regimes, and what some perceive as a two systems of Justice.
Some of the critics of these positions have poo pooed these accusations, by noting in particular that the "founder" of the FBI (long associated with the secretive and nefarious Edgar G Hoover) had stooped to more controversial and criticized methods, and that consequently the Legislature had taken steps to modernize and enforce accountability of its leaders and agents. Therefore according to these critics, the "modern" FBI was not what its opponents were describing.
For the sake of avoiding confusion, I shall not address this issue, at this time, since many legislative and criminal investigations will go on, to give us a well deserved analysis of what did and did not happen, over the last 8 to 10 years, at and with the Bureau. Instead I will venture into a more historic and less known background of the FBI, and how it ties into the very old relation between France and the USA.
What might surprise many is that one of the key part of the origins of the FBI are found in France rather than in the United States.
Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous Emperor of France had several brothers. His younger sibling Jerome would be sent across the Atlantic as a young Naval Officer to further his education and experience in 1801. This is how Jerome Bonaparte became the founder of the Bonaparte family in the United States of America. Fifty years later in 1851 Charles-Joseph Bonaparte was born in Baltimore Maryland.
Charles-Joseph received a strict and demanding education, which ultimately led him to brilliant studies at the University of Harvard, where he obtained his Juris Doctorate, and later passed the BAR in Maryland in 1874. A year later he would marry Ellen Channing Day, with whom he did not have any heir. In 1879, he and his brother inherited a real estate fortune estimated at $1.5 million from their grand-mother and spouse of Jerome Bonaparte, born Elizabeth Patterson.
Charles Joseph is a devout practicing Catholic. In 1884 he strongly oppose the principle of free Public Schools, while he develops his law practice. He also becomes very active into the creation of reform leagues. He invest himself into the issues of Public administration. His fame widens at the local level, and he creates several newspapers, where he attacks crooked developers. He is then considered as one of the founding fathers of the anti corruption movement.
Soon his ideas attract a wider following at the national level, and starts attracting some political attention. This is how he first catches the attention of Theodore Roosevelt who will become President of the USA, and later win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. The two men first meet in 1892 in Baltimore during a meeting for the promotion of new reforms where they are both guest speakers. Both are alumnus of Harvard, and naturally become friends. They both consider that the art of Government needs efficiency and intellectual know how, and therefore should avoid back room deals and nepotism. Based on these common views, they decide to work together.
At the dawn of the 19th century US political life is mostly based on a de facto control of policies by the Business community. Corrupt politicians are the norm, and the system is totally biased. The constitutional Republic as seen by the founding fathers has evolved into a corrupt system, where Big Business and their Trusts control entire sections of the industry and commerce. (not unlike the challenges we are facing today). Frauds are so common that the public no longer pays attention. Roosevelt and Bonaparte attempt to conciliate capitalist free enterprise with the interest of the workers, and wish to rein in the Cartels and their corrupt actions, in order to protect the most vulnerable.
Roosevelt in particular encourages the "muckrackers" as he calls them to denounce the different abuses of the crooks who divert the democratic process, legally or otherwise for their own benefits. The movement becomes a groundswell for reforms that will ultimately carry Teddy Roosevelt to the Presidency.
In 1901, then Republican Vice President Roosevelt access the Presidency, following the assassination of President McKinley by the anarchist Leo Czolgosz. He brings along Bonaparte to help him push forward his progressist agenda, based on the principles of responsibility, Justice, and the fight against corruption. Roosevelt puts Bonaparte in charge of the repression of frauds within the postal services and the Bureau of Indian affairs.
