 Bryce graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1936 at age 19, followed by two years of graduate work in government at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma.He then went to Washington, D.C., where he served on Capitol Hill as assistant librarian of the U.S. House of Representatives and then as an aide to Congressman Wesley Disney.In 1940, he joined the army reserve, and in July 1941, he was placed on active duty as an officer in the public information office of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall.