Border Guard: The Story of the U.S. Customs Service

By: Don Whitehead

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Synopsis: Border Guard, first published in 1963 by Pulitzer-winning journalist Don Whitehead, is a look at the efforts of the U.S. Customs Service (now U.S. Customs and Border Protection) to secure America’s borders and ports of entry from illegal items and to collect duties. (As noted by the author, before the implementation of the federal income tax, customs duties were the only source of revenue for the government.) Chapters deal with the major issues facing the Service, including illegal drugs, diamond smuggling, stolen works of art, organized crime networks, and pornography; numerous case histories are provided to illustrate the work of the Service. A chapter is also devoted to the origins of the customs service from the earliest days of the United States.