Hall was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps in college and after graduating he joined the United States Air Force.

Four years later, he defeated incumbent Republican governor Dewey F. Bartlett in the closest gubernatorial election in state history, and took office only after a recount confirmed his victory.

His administration issued a landmark public policy analysis book of Oklahoma's education system entitled "Measuring up and Moving On."

During his term as governor, the state drastically expanded the vocational technical (later renamed career-tech) system of facilities offering low or no cost training certificates for residents.

[citation needed] Hall's administration and policy initiatives were opposed and attacked on a regular basis by the state's largest newspaper, The Daily Oklahoman, and its powerful publisher E.K.

Congressman Clem McSpadden and state representative and Oklahoma Baptist University professor David Boren, who eventually won the nomination in a runoff and the general election over Republican Jim Inhofe.

Three days after leaving office in January 1975, Hall was indicted on federal racketeering and extortion charges, in a conspiracy involving Hall and Oklahoma Secretary of State John Rogers willfully steering State of Oklahoma employee retiree funds to investment funds controlled by Dallas, Texas, businessman W. W. "Doc" Taylor.

He had earlier been implanted with a pacemaker and had expected to be discharged from the hospital, but then developed a blood clot that ultimately went to his brain and caused a fatal stroke.