Bouvé was born May 27, 1878 in Hingham, Massachusetts and educated at Harvard College and the Harvard Law School. Prior to becoming Register, he worked as Assistant United States District Attorney for Manila, the Panamanian Commission, and as an agent of the United States before the General and Special Claims Commission during boundary discussions with Mexico. He served in the Field Artillery in France during World War I and in the Army of Occupation in Germany, and retired from the United States Army with the rank of Lieutenant colonel. In 1912, Bouvé authored "A Treatise on the Laws Governing the Exclusion and Expulsion of Aliens in the United States," considered to be one of the first authoritative legal works on the subject.