{{short description|American lawyer}} {{Infobox person | name = Myles Ambrose | image = File:Myles J. Ambrose.png | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = July 21, 1926 | birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|June 3, 2014|July 21, 1926}} | death_place = [[Leesburg, Virginia]], U.S. | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = [[New Hampton School]] | alma_mater = [[Manhattan College]]<br/>[[New York Law School]] | employer = | occupation = Lawyer, government official | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] | boards = | spouse = {{plainlist| * Elaine Miller * Joan Fitzpatrick * Lorraine Genovese }} | children = 3 sons, 3 daughters and 3 stepsons, 2 stepdaughters | relatives = }}
'''Myles Joseph Ambrose''' (July 21, 1926 – June 3, 2014) was an American lawyer and United States federal government official. He served as the [[United States Customs Service#Commissioners|Commissioner]] of [[Customs]] under President [[Richard M. Nixon]] and paved the way for the establishment of the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]].
==Early life== Myles Ambrose was born on July 21, 1926, in [[The Bronx]], New York.<ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite news|last1=Vitello|first1=Paul|title=Myles J. Ambrose, Nixon Drug Czar, D.E.A. Midwife, Dies at 87|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/us/myles-j-ambrose-87-deas-midwife-dies.html?_r=1|accessdate=October 15, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=June 9, 2014}}</ref><ref name="washingtonpostobit">{{cite news|last1=Schudel|first1=Matt|title=Myles J. Ambrose, who sought to curb illegal drug trade, helped set up the DEA|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/myles-j-ambrose-who-sought-to-curb-nations-drug-trade-helped-set-up-the-dea/2014/06/11/2480316c-f0c4-11e3-9ebc-2ee6f81ed217_story.html|accessdate=October 15, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 12, 2014}}</ref><ref name="independentobit">{{cite news|title=Myles Ambrose: US Customs commissioner who became Nixon's front man in the war on drugs and helped set up the DEA|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/myles-ambrose-us-customs-commissioner-who-became-nixon-s-front-man-in-the-war-on-drugs-and-helped-9644153.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/myles-ambrose-us-customs-commissioner-who-became-nixon-s-front-man-in-the-war-on-drugs-and-helped-9644153.html |archive-date=2022-06-18 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|accessdate=October 15, 2016|work=The Independent|date=August 2, 2014}}</ref> His father, Arthur Ambrose, was a stockbroker on Wall Street.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> His mother, Ann Campbell, was a singer.<ref name="nytimesobit"/>
Ambrose was educated at the [[New Hampton School]].<ref name="nytimesobit"/> He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from [[Manhattan College]] in 1948 and his law degree from [[New York Law School]] in 1952.<ref name="nytimesobit"/><ref name="washingtonpostobit"/>
==Career== Ambrose started his career as a lawyer in New York City.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> He served as an assistant [[United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York]] from 1954 to 1957.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> He joined the [[United States Department of the Treasury]] in 1957, when he was appointed as chief coordinator of law enforcement and he prosecuted gang members.<ref name="nytimesobit"/><ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> From 1960 to 1963, he served as the executive director of the [[Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor]],<ref name="nytimesobit"/> where he prosecuted organized crime figures.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> He returned to legal practice in [[Washington, D.C.]], in 1963.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/>
In 1969, Ambrose was appointed as the [[United States Customs Service#Commissioners|Commissioner]] of [[Customs]] under President [[Richard M. Nixon]].<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> Under his leadership, he oversaw the implementation of [[Operation Intercept]], which consisted in searching vehicles entering the United States from Mexico.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> The program was discontinued within weeks; instead, the Mexican police was expected to search for illicit drugs in cars driving into U.S. soil.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> Meanwhile, it was Ambrose who promoted the use of dogs to look for drugs like heroin and marijuana.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> In 1971, he successfully completed the seizure of 200 pounds of pure heroin entering the United States in three batches.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> In January 1972, he became the director of the [[Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement]] (ODALE), a drug enforcement agency tasked primarily with the [[U.S. federal government]] aiding local drug enforcement.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> He proposed the creation of the more encompassing [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] in 1973.<ref name="nytimesobit"/><ref name="washingtonpostobit"/>
Ambrose returned to legal practise in Washington, D.C., upon retiring from the federal government.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> He served on the inaugural committee of the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/> He served as the chairman of the board of [[Daytop]], a drug addiction treatment organization.<ref name="washingtonpostobit"/>
==Personal life and death== With his first wife, Elaine Miller, he had three sons and three daughters.[2] After she died in 1975, he married Joan Fitzpatrick, but he later divorced.[2] At the time of his death he was married to Lorraine Genovese. He wed Lorraine Genovese, a mother of three sons and two daughters, in 1994.[2] He attended Mass at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn, Virginia.[2] He resided in Lansdowne, Virginia and later Leesburg, Virginia, where he died of a congestive heart failure at the age of 87.[1][2][3]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/ambrose.html Interview Myles Ambrose, Frontline]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambrose, Myles James}} [[Category:1926 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:Lawyers from the Bronx]] [[Category:Manhattan College alumni]] [[Category:New York Law School alumni]] [[Category:Commissioners of the United States Customs Service]] [[Category:People from Loudoun County, Virginia]] [[Category:People from Leesburg, Virginia]] [[Category:20th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:New Hampton School alumni]]