McPherson was educated at Kentucky Elementary School, Westmoreland and at Mico College.
McPherson was elected to the House of Representatives from the newly-created Saint Thomas Western constituency when he defeated Senator Randolph Burke of the People's National Party in the first general election held under adult suffrage on December 14, 1944.
[2] In 1945, he was appointed to the Executive Council – as established by the new constitution - becoming Jamaica's first Minister of Education.
[1] McPherson married Beryl Maud (née Clarke) on June 1, 1934.
He died in the Princess Margaret Hospital, Morant Bay, St. Thomas, in 1963 at the age of 63.