The Federal Bureau of Investigation

History of the FBI

During the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, Attorney General Charles Bonaparte created within the Department of Justice a corps of special agents that consisted of former detectives and Secret Service men. In May 1908, when it became illegal for the Department of Justice to hire or engage any Secret Service personnel, Attorney General Bonaparte appointed Chief Examiner Stanley Finch as the leader of a group of 34 agents, which later became known as the Bureau of Investigation.

The Mann Act of 1910, which prohibited the interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes, greatly increased the task of the Bureau of Investigation. Over the next few years, it expanded to [Page 175]more than 300 agents and 300 support personnel. Field offices existed in major cities and were directed by a Special Agent in Charge, who reported to headquarters in Washington. In 1919, William Flynn replaced Finch as the head of the Bureau of Investigation and became the first individual to call himself director.

When J. Edgar Hoover took over as director of the Bureau on May 10, 1924, there were approximately 440 special agents in 9 field offices throughout the United States. By the end of the decade, there were 30 field offices and nine divisional offices. In an ongoing effort to enhance the image of the agency, Hoover fired any agents he deemed unqualified or unsuitable. He introduced performance appraisals, regular field office inspections, and a formal training course for new agents. He further required that new agents be 25 to 35 years old and have a law or accounting background.

In 1924, Congress merged the Bureau of Criminal Identification and the collection of fingerprint cards maintained by the International Association of Chiefs of Police into one central location in Washington, D.C. This new National Division of Identification and Information became part of the Bureau of Investigation.

Under Hoover, the Bureau continued to expand. By 1939, the number of agents had increased to more than 650, support employees numbered over 1,000, and there were field offices in 42 cities. The Bureau had been renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation in 1932 and finally in 1935 was called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

By 1940, the FBI had also established itself as a leader in evidence analysis and law enforcement training. The technical lab was expanded and had extensive specializations in identification and analysis of guns, tool marks, tire marks, and other forms of evidence. The FBI National Academy trained and taught new techniques and information to law enforcement officials from the United States and around the world.

Concerns that communist sympathizers had infiltrated the U.S. government were building in the late 1940s. Hoover focused the resources of the FBI on the threat of communism in the government and throughout the country. The investigation and arrest of alleged spies was an emphasis of the Bureau during the 1950s.

In the 1960s, Congress passed sweeping new civil rights legislation. With the added responsibility of investigating individuals and groups intent on violating these statutes, the FBI grew to over 6,700 agents and 9,300 support personnel in over 58 field offices and 12 legal attaché offices.

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