During World War II, McVey served in the United States Army Air Force from 1943 to 1946 and was discharged as a staff sergeant. He served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 1949 until 1952, as judge of the city court of Independence from 1952 until 1956, and as a member of the Kansas Senate from 1957 until 1960. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the Eighty-third Congress in 1952.
McVey was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-seventh Congress (January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963). McVey had an affair with a secretary from his office during the first year of his term, prompting his wife, Rose Mary, to return to Kansas and file for divorce.[1] He was unable to win nomination in 1962 to run for re-election to the Eighty-eighth Congress.
Following his Congressional stint, McVey worked as a management consultant in Washington, D.C. from 1963 until 1964 and as executive director of the Fulton County, Georgia, Republican Party from June 1964 until September 1965. He served as staff counsel to the Georgia Municipal Association from November 1965 until April 1966. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1965 and commenced the practice of law in Atlanta.
