He served as special-agent-in-charge of the FBI's offices in several major cities, including Newark, NJ, New Orleans, LA, and Dallas, TX.

[1][2] He retired from the FBI in August 1945, and then resumed the practice of law in Wadesboro, North Carolina, his wife's hometown.

In 1956, Kitchin was elected as a Democrat to the 85th Congress following the local party's rebuke of Charles B. Deane as a result of his refusal to sign the Southern Manifesto.

In 1962, his Republican colleague Charles R. Jonas ran for re-election in the 8th district as a result of redistricting, and defeated Kitchin.

Kitchin resumed the practice of law and was a resident of Wadesboro, North Carolina, until his death there on October 22, 1983.