He also served in the United States Naval Reserve, Military Government Branch, where he attained the rank of Commander.
Swope was born in Meckville, Berks County, Pennsylvania and studied in Keystone State Teachers College and Columbia University School of International Affairs.
After graduation, he first worked as a teacher in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and later as an agent for the Internal Revenue Service.
After the war, he was a civilian chief of the National Government Division in Tokyo, Japan and later as an assistant to the American High Commissioner in Germany.
After the war, Swope returned to political life with a failed bid for re-election to Congress in 1956, but he was appointed Deputy State Treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1961 until his retirement in 1965.