Knauth was born to Percival Knauth and Mary Iles Whitman in New York City on June 3, 1887. After attending the
Trinity School in New York City, he graduated from the
Morristown School (now the Morristown-Beard School)] in
Morristown, New Jersey in 1905. During his high school years, Knauth played on Morristown School's football team. He completed his bachelor's degree at
Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts with the highest honors in 1909. During his studies at Harvard, Knauth served as a business editor of
The Harvard Lampoon. After his undergraduate studies, Knauth worked for the
American Bank Note Company, an international engraver of currency and postage stamps. He completed his Ph.D. at
Columbia University in
Manhattan in 1913. Knauth then served as an instructor and assistant professor of economics at
Princeton University in
Princeton, New Jersey until 1916. After leaving his job at Princeton, Knauth wrote editorials for
The New York Evening Post (now
The New York Post). ==Service during World Wars I and II==