Until March 2003, the United States Customs Service was the portion of the U.S. federal government dedicated to keeping illegal products outside of U.S. borders. It also regulated what could leave the United States and was partially responsible for who could enter the United States.
For over 100 years after its birth, the U.S. Customs Service was the primary source of funds for the entire government, and paid for the nation's early growth and infrastructure. Purchases include the Louisiana and Oregon territories; Florida and Alaska; funding the National Road and the Transcontinental Railroad; building many of the nation's lighthouses; the U.S. Military and Naval academies, and Washington D.C.
On March 1, 2003, parts of the U.S. Customs Service combined with the Inspections Program of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine from USDA, and the Border Patrol of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to form U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Federal Protective Service, along with the investigative arms of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, combined to form U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This table lists all Commissioners of Customs, their dates of service, and under which administration they served.
|Ernest W. Camp||1927–1929||Coolidge|
|Francis Xavier A. Eble||1929–1933||Hoover|
|James Henry Moyle||1933–1939||Roosevelt|
|William Roy Johnson||1940-1947||Roosevelt, Truman|
|Frank Dow||Acting, 1947-1949||Truman|
|Philip Nichols, Jr.||1961-1964||Kennedy, Johnson|
|Lester D. Johnson||1965–1969||Johnson|
|Myles Joseph Ambrose||1969–1972||Nixon|
|Vernon Darrell Acree||1972–1977||Nixon, Ford|
|Robert E. Chasen||1977–1980||Carter|
|William Von Raab||1981–1989||Reagan|
|Carol B. Hallett||1989–1993||G.H.W.Bush|
|George J. Weise||1993–1997||Clinton|
|Raymond W. Kelly||1998–2001||Clinton|
|Robert C. Bonner||2001–2003||G.W.Bush|