FBI Early Years in the United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation: History Founding and Early Years
Introduction to FBI Early Years
The agency that eventually became the FBI was founded on July 26, 1908, when U.S. attorney general Charles J. Bonaparte appointed Stanley W. Finch to head a new, unnamed investigative division within the Department of Justice. The division started with 34 special agents, 10 of whom were former Secret Service employees. It was named the Bureau of Investigation in 1909. The agency took its present name, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1935.
In its early years, the agency’s jurisdiction was limited because most crimes were handled by local law enforcement agencies. Its investigative responsibilities included antitrust violations, bankruptcy fraud, postal fraud, violation of federal banking laws, destruction of government property, and certain crimes on Native American reservations. In 1910 Congress expanded the bureau’s jurisdiction by passing the White Slave Traffic Act (Mann Act), which made it a federal crime to transport girls or women across state lines for prostitution or other immoral purposes. The Motor Vehicle Theft Act (Dyer Act) of 1919 empowered the bureau to investigate whenever stolen automobiles were taken across state lines. These laws gave the bureau additional ways to combat organized crime and to investigate criminals who eluded local police by crossing state lines.
During World War I (1914-1918), Congress charged the bureau with investigating sabotage, espionage, and violations of draft laws and with conducting wartime counterintelligence efforts against the Central Powers. After the war, heightened concerns about foreign sabotage and internal security led to the “Red Scare” of 1919 and 1920. In 1919 Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer created the General Intelligence Division (GID) to investigate American radicals. Led by a Justice Department attorney named J. Edgar Hoover, the GID targeted anarchists, Communists, trade union activists, civil rights activists, and foreign resident agitators. In the so-called Palmer Raids of January 2 and 6, 1920, special agents and local police arrested thousands of Communists and suspected sympathizers across the country. However, the bureau came under sharp criticism when an independent review uncovered a range of abuses during the raids, including illegal searches and seizures, warrantless arrests, denial of legal counsel, and poor detainment conditions.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about FBI Early Years in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
Guide to FBI Early Years
In this Section
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation Structure, FBI Jurisdiction and Investigative Responsibilities, FBI Agents, Law Enforcement Services, FBI Law Enforcement Services (including FBI Fingerprint Identification, FBI Laboratory, FBI Criminal Profiling, FBI Police Training, National Crime Information Center and Crime Statistics), FBI History (including FBI Early Years, Hoover Reforms, FBI in the World War II and Postwar Era, FBI Antiradical Activities, FBI Reform, Ruby Ridge, FBI Under Freeh and September 11 Attacks), FBI and the Patriot Act and National Lawyers Guild.