Born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, West received a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in 1941.

According to West, "[d]uring the invasion of Sicily, my ship hit a mine.

When I got down to the hold of the ship my eyes got acclimated to the dark and I looked around, and two seats down was Russell Long.

West was nominated by President John F. Kennedy on September 5, 1961, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, to a new seat created by 75 Stat.

All direct appointments to this Court have been by Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, making the Middle District of Louisiana the only federal court where all appointments have been by presidents of one party.

[a] West was widely praised for his protection of the rights of prisoners in litigation challenging the constitutionality of conditions of confinement in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed, remanding for determination of specific inmate population and security staffing requirements.

The Angola Museum website intimates that West's order resulted eventually in quadrupling the number of security guards; major facilities renovations, including construction of four new camps; and improved rehabilitative efforts and prisoner medical care at Angola.

Upon his death, Senator Long stated, "The Lord never made a better man that Gordon West.