Charles Joseph Bonaparte

Bonaparte, Charles Joseph

(1851–1921) lawyer, reformer; born in Baltimore, Md. (great-nephew of the Emperor Napoleon I). He was born into wealth but imbued with a sense of high-minded social responsibility by his New England-born mother. He practiced law in Baltimore, where he fought rampant corruption in both the city and state government, and founded the Civil Service Reform Association of Maryland and the National Civil Service Reform League (both in 1881; he served as the latter's chairman, 1901–05). His reform activities led to a friendship with Theodore Roosevelt who, as president, appointed him secretary of the navy (1905) and then attorney general (1906–09). Although he led Roosevelt's anti-trust campaign, he was himself essentially a conservative who had no great faith in the masses. After leaving the Department of Justice, he returned to practice law in Baltimore, and was founder and president of the National Municipal League.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.