In 1998, as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, the biggest US tobacco companies agreed to open their archives to the public. Inside company documents was a story of tobacco executives who understood that cigarettes killed smokers yet expended vast amounts of time and money to keep that information from the public. In this episode, Ben speaks with Louis Kyriakoudes, an expert who has applied his academic research on the history of cigarettes as an expert witness in tobacco cases and as a speaker to medical groups seeking to better understand the history of the industry.

Dr. Louis Kyriakoudes is Professor of History and Director of the Albert Gore Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University. He has served as expert witness in tobacco litigation in multiple state and federal courts and served as an international consultant on the topic.

Sources by Louis Kyriakoudes on the History of Cigarettes

-“The Grand Ole Opry and Big Tobacco: Radio Scripts from the Files of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 1948-1959,” Southern Cultures, (Vol. 12, No. 2), Summer 2006, 76-89.

-“Historians’ Testimony on ‘Common Knowledge’ of the risks of Tobacco Use,” Tobacco Control, 2006.

-“The Tobacco Industry’s Deadly Distortions of History,” Tobacco Control, 2016.

-“Cigarette-Delivered Nicotine and Addiction: Historical Perspectives; Contemporary Challenges” (Notes from a Talk Given at the Max Plank Institute)