Born on July 31, 1894, in Armour, South Dakota,[1] Hall attended two years of high school in Tecumseh, Nebraska.

[2] He lived in a Nebraska orphanage for a period of time before moving to Los Angeles to study law.

[1] In 1929, Hall ran for election as Los Angeles city attorney but lost to Erwin P. Werner in the June final, 152,566 to 82,444.

[2] Hall was elected to the Los Angeles City Council to represent District 11 in 1925 and was reelected in 1927.

[3] Hall, along with Clifford W. Henderson and Henry G. Bakes, "persuaded the city to lease a 640-acre bean and barley patch then known as Mines Field," which became the Los Angeles International Airport.

[1] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 30, 1942, and received his commission on July 3, 1942.

He and his first wife were divorced in 1929, and Hall sued journalist Fred H. Girnau for libel when Girnau printed a two-column article asserting that testimony at the divorce proceedings showed that Hall "used the pretty face of his wife for a punching bag."