During the Second World War, he served in the Alaskan Theater as a lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946. He also served as general counsel to a United States Senate committee in 1946; secretary to Senator Styles Bridges in 1947; counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation from 1948 to 1949; attorney general of New Hampshire from 1953 to 1961; president of the National Association of Attorneys General in 1957; and as legislative counsel to the Governor of New Hampshire in 1961; member and chairman of several state legal and judicial commissions.