11. Operation Intercept nearly closed the American border with Mexico
In 1969 newly inaugurated President Richard Nixon launched Operation Intercept on September 21, in an attempt to stop the flow of marijuana across America’s southern border. Earlier in September Nixon informed the President of Mexico of his intention to implement the policy, which was conducted under the supervision of the United States Custom Service. The policy was simple, every vehicle which entered the United States across the Mexican border was stopped for an inspection. At the same time the United States nearly stopped the cross-border traffic from Mexico as it also stopped and searched all those crossing the border on foot and all arriving on airplanes which had left from or stopped at Mexican airports. The intent of the program was to force the Mexican government to initiate a defoliation program to destroy cannabis plants grown there.
Operation Intercept led to a near shutdown of cross-border traffic and lengthy lines on the Mexican side of the border, which affected returning Americans as well. The press was almost universal in condemning the operation. G. Gordon Liddy, who helped plan the operation, wrote in his autobiography that the intent of Operation Intercept had not been the stopping of cannabis entering the United States, but was instead a deliberate act of extortion intended to “bend Mexico to our will”. Operation Intercept had a negative effect on many communities along the Mexican-American border, and after three weeks it was abandoned, but it can be noted as the first shot in what Nixon would later name the War on Drugs which was directed at another nation.