Beall served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946 and graduated from Yale University in 1950. While at Yale, he was an active member of the Yale Political Union. He then went into the insurance business as a member of the general insurance firm of Beall, Garner & Geare, Inc.
Beall served one term in the U.S. House, representing Maryland's 6th congressional district, and then ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970, narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Joseph Tydings. Six years later, he lost re-election to Paul Sarbanes by 39% to 57%. His eighteen-point margin of defeat was one of the widest for an incumbent senator in U.S. history. With Aris T. Allen as his running mate, Beall ran for Governor of Maryland in 1978 but lost to Democratic nominee Harry Hughes by an overwhelming margin.
In the Senate, Beall "sponsored legislation that created the Senate Budget Office and the Congressional Budget Office. He served as one of the first members of the Senate Budget Committee. He was a principal sponsor of The Physician Manpower Shortage Act, which brought more doctors to rural areas, and the C&O Canal Development Act, establishing the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, among others."[3]
Beall served as the President and Chairman of the charity The League for Crippled Children from 1978 until the time of his death.[4]
Beall resumed the insurance business in Cumberland and was very active in the local community until his death as a result of cancer on March 24, 2006 at age 78.[5] He was interred in Frostburg Memorial Park Cemetery.
