John C. "Jack" Lawn served as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration 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 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. Although Reagan had pledged to crack down on the crack epidemic, when Lawn requested an additional $44 million and 200 more agents to focus solely on the drug, he was rejected. Before coming to the DEA, Mr. Lawn had served for 15 years as a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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 John H. Wood, Jr. Before this historic case, Lawn had supervised all FBI civil rights cases, including allegations of police brutality and color of law complaints. 

United States of America