Victor L Crawford

Victor Crawford was a smoker since he was 13 years old. He practiced law in Rockville, Maryland before getting elected to the Maryland Legislature, where he served from 1966 to 1983. After leaving the legislature, Victor Crawford went to work as a lobbyist for the Tobacco Institute, where he worked from from 1986 to 1991. In January of 1991, Crawford felt a sharp pain in his neck, which was initially incorrectly diagnosed as an inflamed artery. Later that year, he discovered it was a squamous cell carcinoma caused by smoking. By 1993, the cancer had spread to his lungs, liver and pelvic bone. In 1994, Crawford agreed to provide revealing information about tobacco industry lobbying practices to a journalist who produced articles for the New York Times Magazine. Crawford went on to give other interviews (including one to the Journal of the American Medical Association), appear in anti-smoking television ads and radio public service announcements, and to inform tobacco control groups about tobacco industry lobbying strategies and tactics. In one 1995 interview, Crawford said, "I told politicians that there was no evidence that smoking causes cancer. If that's not lying, I don't know what is. I'm just trying to undo some of the damage I've done." He died on March 2, 1996 at the age of 63.