When he was three, his family left Bulgaria with his two other brothers (one of whom was the journalist Avedis Boghos Derounian, better known as John Roy Carlson) to the United States and settled in Mineola, New York.

In an anecdote recounted from this time, a customer complained that the 20-year-old Derounian overweighed a shipment of cheese, and his father rebuked him.

As a Congressman, Derounian was part of the Congressional Subcommittee that investigated the 1950s Quiz show scandals.

When his fellow Congressmen praised Van Doren for his statement, Derounian dissented, saying: "Mr. Van Doren, I am happy that you made the statement, but I cannot agree with most of my colleagues who commended you for telling the truth, because I don't think an adult of your intelligence ought to be commended for telling the truth.

[6] A staunch conservative and Barry Goldwater supporter, Derounian was narrowly defeated in New York's Third Congressional District on Long Island during the LBJ landslide of 1964 Democrat Lester Wolff won 96,503 (50.7%) votes to Derounian's 93,883 (49.3%).