The family subsequently settled in Italy, purchasing a pharmacy in Sanremo with the assistance of Jordan's mother Thekla's dowry.

[13] Jordan's father later worked with Eastman Kodak, establishing branches for the company in various Italian and Swiss cities.

Jordan attended high school in Stuttgart and subsequently pursued undergraduate studies in philosophy at the University of Frankfurt.

In early 1920, following his trip to Italy on a press syndicate assignment, he joined the renowned democratic newspaper Berliner Tageblatt as associate foreign editor.

[17] Jordan secured his first major story for the Berliner Tageblatt by conducting an exclusive interview with Georgy Chicherin, the Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, in April 1922.

At the time, Jordan was stationed at NBC in Basel, Switzerland, where he learned of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany.

[1]: 73–75 The broadcast proceeded to America without further issue, with Jordan providing a concise English summary of Hitler's speech.

[22] Jordan also reported on the first Atlantic flight of the Hindenburg in 1936,[8] the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, the text of that year's Munich Agreement (giving Germany the ethnically-German regions of Czechoslovakia), the 1940 invasion of France,[5] and the 1945 surrender of Japan.

[9] Horten stated that part of Jordan's success was his networking with the governments of Germany, Austria, and Hungary, which provided NBC "privileged use" of their broadcasting facilities.

[5] During the war, he worked on NBC's religious shows, which included prayers, bible stories, and a series about military Chaplainship, Chaplain Jim.

[11] He also wrote a letter to William F. Buckley Jr.'s magazine National Review that was critical of Zahn's book German Catholics and Hitler's Wars.