A World War II volunteer and veteran, Hope was, in his postwar service, the first African-American to hold the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy.

[9] This was a time of great expansion and development at the university during the New Deal, and the president, treasurer and Hope were accused of misusing Public Works Administration funds.

The university repaid $29,000 and a study of the situation by the Department of the Interior found evidence only of serious mistakes, not wilful wrongdoing, but recommended that the three men be fired.

In December 1945 Hope flew to Okinawa where he was the first Black naval officer to serve as a member of a general court-martial board.

His family joined him and he was promoted to lieutenant commander, making him the highest-ranking Black man in the history of the navy up to that time.

During these months Mrs. Hope inspired the sailors there to collectively donate just over $500 to the United Negro College Fund in Washington DC.

[21] However the navy closed the university within a year and Lieutenant Commander Hope was reassigned as assistant public works officer at Pearl Harbor.

Lieutenant Commander Hope, however, was determined to return to civilian life, feeling that 47 years of age was rather late to begin a career in the regular navy.

As a result of this offer, Lieutenant Commander Hope was sent on a speaking tour of Black colleges to "show the uniform" and explain the benefits of a career as a navy officer.

[24] In 1951 he and his family left for what was expected to be a two-year stay as a faculty member of the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, departing on September 8 from the Port of New York.

[27] In 1956 Dr. Hope wrote to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in support of his movement and to send a donation, saying that attitudes in the Middle East toward the United States were tied to how it treated its citizens of color.