John C. "Jack" Lawn (born June 2, 1935) served as Administrator of the
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) between 26 July 1985 and 23 March 1990. On 1 March 1985, Lawn, who had served as Deputy Administrator since 1982, was designated Acting Administrator following the retirement of
Francis M. Mullen. On 4 April 1985, he was nominated by
President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
to be the next Administrator of the DEA.
Mr. Lawn was confirmed by the
U.S. Senate on 16 July 1985, and sworn in on 26 July 1985.
Before coming to the DEA, Mr. Lawn had served for 15 years as a
Special Agent of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
(FBI) from 1967 to 1982. As Special Agent in Charge of the
San Antonio field office from 1980 to 1982, he had directed the successful investigation into the assassination of
U.S. District Judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
John H. Wood, Jr.
John Howland Wood Jr. (March 31, 1916 – May 29, 1979) was an American lawyer and judge from Texas. He served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas before being assassinated by c ...
Before this historic case, Lawn had supervised all FBI civil rights cases, including allegations of police brutality and color of law complaints. In addition, he was responsible for background investigations of
White House officials, federal judges, and
US attorney nominees. He also served in the Criminal Division of FBI headquarters where he supervised the
United States House Select Committee on Assassinations review of the 1963
assassination of John F. Kennedy and the 1968
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7 ...
From 1990-1994, Mr. Lawn served as vice-president and chief of operations of the
New York Yankees. In 1998, he was serving as the chairman and CEO of
The Century Council, a national organization dedicated to fighting alcohol abuse. On Thursday, September 30, 2010, in Washington, D.C., the DEA Educational Foundation honored Mr. Lawn, presenting him with the 2010 DEA Educational Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was presented in recognition of his decades of leadership and commitment to drug law enforcement, drug abuse prevention, and drug treatment.
References
External links
DEA History ''(www.usdoj.gov/dea)''*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawn, John C.
Heads of United States federal agencies
Baseball executives
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents
Drug Enforcement Administration Administrators
Living people
1935 births