[1][2] He served in the United States Army with the rank of first lieutenant for twenty two months during World War I.
[1][2] After he ended his military service, Dancer returned to Iowa in 1919 as a farmer, serving on the board of directors for the Farmers Grain and Seed Company, as president of the Decatur Farm Bureau and chairman of the board of the Lamoni Cooperative Creamery Association.
[1][2] David Dancer married Florence Messerli, a native of West Union, Iowa, on 17 November 1917.
[1] Dancer subsequently ran in the 1942 Republican party primary for the position of Secretary of Agriculture of Iowa.
[3] Following the loss in the primary, Dancer was appointed secretary of the Iowa Board of Regents from 1942,[3] and stepped down from the position by 1968.