Vance Criswell McCormick was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on June 19, 1872. He attended Andover and received his Ph. B. from Yale in 1893. After graduation McCormick was associated in various business ventures with his father.

In 1902, he began his serious and lifelong connection with the journalistic and publishing worlds as well as his involvement in state and national Democratic party politics. McCormick was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1914; he was appointed chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1916; and served as chairman of the War Trade Board during the crucial years 1916-1919. In the fall of 1917 President Wilson also sent McCormick to London as a member of Colonel House's special American War Mission to the Inter-Allied Conference; and a year later he appointed him Adviser on Economic Questions to the American Commission to Negotiate Peace.

While in Paris, McCormick served as chairman of the Superior Allied Blockade Council, as a member of the Supreme Economic Council, and as a member of the Commission on Reparations. After the signing of the treaty of peace - and for the better part of the succeeding twenty-five years - McCormick resumed his active participation in Democratic politics, Pennsylvania civic and educational affairs, and Yale University alumni affairs. He died in June 1946.