He went to business college at Peniel (now part of Greenville, Texas), and attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

He built, financed, and operated beet sugar mills in various sections of the United States, 1917-1935.

He was director of the Michigan National Bank and the Refiners Transport & Petroleum Corporation of Detroit at time of his death.

In 1934, Crawford was elected as a Republican from Michigan's 8th congressional district to the United States House of Representatives, defeating incumbent Democrat Michael J. Hart.

His notebooks and other materials related to those events are archived at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan [1].