Born in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota, Irving moved with his parents to a farm in North Dakota, where he attended the public schools.

Irving then moved to California and was manager of a hotel.

He moved to Jackson County, Missouri, in 1934 and was employed as a construction worker and later became a representative of the American Federation of Labor.

He was unsuccessful for reelection in 1952 and in a bid for the Democratic nomination in 1954.

He died on March 8, 1962, in Washington, D.C., while on a business trip, and was interred in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City.