The Bells and their children traveled extensively in all parts of the world, and lived in several locations, including New York City, Boston, MA, Washington D.C., and Karachi, Pakistan.

He served on land in Pearl Harbor from July 1945 until he was released from active duty on 21 September of the same year, at which point he was a First Lieutenant.

[1] In 1952, Bell left Washington temporarily to join the campaign staff of the Democratic nominee for president, Adlai Stevenson.

Bell accepted, and was immediately put to work during the Eisenhower/Kennedy transition helping to formulate the new administration's economic policy.

At the end of 1962, President Kennedy asked Bell to become the new Administrator of the Agency for International Development, created in response to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

[2] In this post Bell worked at developing foreign aid programs and legislation and appealing for funds and fighting budget cutbacks.

[3] Bell left the government in the summer of 1966, and became Executive Vice President of the Ford Foundation, a private independent institution dedicated to advancing social justice in the US and in developing nations.

During his time at the Ford Foundation, Bell was a member of a large number of advisory committees dealing with foreign aid and government reorganization.