During
World War II, Graham served in the
United States Navy. Graham served as
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the second term of President
Harry S. Truman and
Secretary of the Treasury John Wesley Snyder. from November 19, 1952, until January 19, 1953. After
Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1953, Graham became a financial and business consultant in Washington, D.C., until 1956, when he served as national treasurer for
Volunteers for Stevenson, the campaign to elect
Adlai Stevenson President of the United States, against incumbent President
Eisenhower. On September 12, 1957, when Graham was 51, he was appointed as a commissioner of the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission by Eisenhower, The President, along with partisan
Lewis Strauss, both
Republicans, appointed Graham, a
Democrat, to fill out
John von Neumann's term following Neumann's death. This was done as a show of conciliation between the President and the
Joint Committee ==Personal life==