He was field secretary for United States Representative Herron C. Pearson from Tennessee from 1940 to 1941.

He was executive assistant and general counsel to the Governor of Tennessee for unemployment compensation appeals and traffic and transportation from 1941 to 1944.

He was public relations representative for the Tennessee-Kentucky Chain Store Councils in Paris from 1946 to 1947.

He was campaign manager for Estes Kefauver for United States Senate in 1948, and in 1954.

[1] Neese received a recess appointment from President John F. Kennedy on November 20, 1961, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, to a new seat created by 75 Stat.