Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1905 and served in the U.S. Navy until 1909. He then went into business and in 1911 married May Bourne, the daughter of Frederick Gilbert Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. An unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in the elections of 1914, following America's entry in World War I he rejoined the Navy and served as a transport officer until being discharged in 1919.