[2] As a child, Beall suffered from polio and underwent several operations before age 12; his left arm and leg were permanently withered.

[4] In 1942, after Democratic incumbent Katharine Byron decided to retire, Beall was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 6th congressional district.

He supported home rule for the District of Columbia, ceasefire with China, and the creation of a national institute for medical research.

He also introduced legislation to create an Inland Navigation Commission, to permit voluntary non-sectarian prayer in public schools, and to turn White Sand Island off the Maryland coast into a federal recreation area.

[13] Beall was narrowly re-elected in 1958 after defeating Democrat Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., the mayor of Baltimore and father of future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, by a margin of 51%-49%.

[14] However, he was heavily defeated in his bid for a third term in 1964; he lost to Democrat Joseph Tydings, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland (a position Beall's son George later held from 1970 to 1975), by a margin of 63%-37%.

He also served as president of the League for Crippled Children of Allegany County, of the Cumberland Fair Association, and of the First National Bank of Western Maryland.