[citation needed] He attended Wilson High in Long Beach, California after moving there with his family.
In 1940, he moved to New York and joined the staff of the liberal-leaning newspaper PM[6] where he worked as city editor among other positions.
[7] In 1941, he won the Hayward Brown Memorial Award for series on conditions in the coal mining industry.
[11] On Thursday, May 22, 1952 O'Connor was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee after being named first by Charles W. Judson [12] and then by Alice K.
[14] Two months later, on July 24 he died of a heart attack while watching the Democratic National Convention in his office at the Daily Compass.