Connor graduated from Syracuse University and Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

He served in the United States Marine Corps as the assistant to the future Navy secretary James V. Forrestal.

He worked in the pharmaceutical industry after the World War II, entering politics as the co-chairman of the Johnson-Humphrey Campaign in 1964.

He was awarded the Commerce Secretaryship in 1965 but wielded less influence within the administration than Secretary of the Treasury Henry H. Fowler and the Economic Advisor Gardner Ackley.

In the 1970s, headed the Committee of Business Executives against the Vietnam War,[1] and was to also, the served as the Rockefeller Commission to the investigation of the CIA activities.