Joseph Fouché
The office was created on 2 January 1796 by taking police powers away from the Minister of Interior and giving them to the new Minister of Police. The move was motivated by an apparent overload of the Interior department. The first minister, Philippe-Antoine Merlin, was appointed two days later, as Armand-Gaston Camus refused the office. The most famous minister was Joseph Fouché, whose service spanned over a decade.