Carpenter attended local public and high schools in Marion, Kansas.

He graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1917, where he was a member of Chi Phi fraternity.

[1] Carpenter was admitted to the bar that same year and commenced his practice in Marion, Kansas.

During the First World War he was called to active duty and was transferred to Company M, One Hundred Thirty-ninth Infantry Regiment, Thirty-fifth Infantry Division which deployed to France in early 1918.

[1][2] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress