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Directors, Then and Now
 

Photograph of Stanley W. Finch
STANLEY W. FINCH

Director
July 26, 1908 - April 30, 1912

Stanley William Finch was born in Monticello, New York, on July 20, 1872. He attended Baker University in Kansas, the Corcoran Scientific School in Washington, D.C., and business colleges in Albany and Washington, D.C. In 1893, he accepted appointment as a clerk in the Department of Justice, where he worked off and on for 40 years. Mr. Finch rose from the position of clerk to that of Chief Examiner between 1893 and 1908. While working in the Justice Department, Mr. Finch earned an LL.B. degree (1908) and an LL.M. degree (1909) from the National University Law School. The Washington D.C. Bar admitted him to practice in 1911.

As Chief Examiner, Mr. Finch advocated the creation of an investigative squad within the Justice Department, eventually becoming its first leader. Attorney General Bonaparte created a Special Agent force in the Department of Justice. Oversight of this newly organized Special Agent force, later named the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), was assigned to Mr. Finch. In 1912, he left the BOI and was named Special Commissioner for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic. In 1913, he became a Special Assistant to the Attorney General. From 1913 to the 1930s, Mr. Finch alternated between private employment -- primarily in the novelty manufacturing business -- and positions in the Department of Justice. Mr. Finch retired from the Department of Justice in 1940 and died in 1951.

Robert S. Mueller, III
2001- Present

Thomas J. Pickard
2001 (Acting)
Louis Freeh
1993-2001
Floyd I. Clarke
1993 (Acting)
William S. Sessions
1987-1993
John Otto
1987 (Acting)
William H. Webster
1978-1987
Clarence M. Kelley
1973-1978
William D. Ruckelshaus
1973 (Acting)
L. Patrick Gray
1972-1973 (Acting)
J. Edgar Hoover
1924-1972
William J. Burns
1921-1924
William J. Flynn
1919-1921
William E. Allen
1919 (Acting)
Alexander B. Bielaski
1912-1919
Stanley Finch
1908-1912