George Bernard Noble was a native of Leesburg, Florida. He attended the University of Washington, became a Rhodes Scholar and received his degree from Oxford University in 1915. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army with the 168th Infantry in France during World War I, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for action under fire. At the end of the war, Noble was attached to the current intelligence division of the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, later publishing a book, Policies and Opinions at Paris, 1919, on the basis of his experiences and subsequent research. He received a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and, in 1962, Reed College honored him with the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Dr. Noble taught briefly at the University of Nebraska, Barnard College, the University of Oregon, and Catholic University, but most of his teaching career was spent at Reed College (1922-1948), where he was advanced to the rank of professor in 1928. He served as chairman of the Oregon State Adjustment Board for the National Recovery Administration in 1934-35 and was a member of the Oregon State Senate in 1941-42. During World War II, while on leave from Reed College, he was chairman of the regional War Labor Board in Seattle, Washington.

Dr. Noble began his career with the State Department in 1946, overseeing for sixteen years the publication of the Foreign Relations of the United States series and the preparation of historical studies for the background use of the Department of State and the Foreign Service. Following his retirement, he wrote a volume on Secretary Christian A. Herter which appeared in 1970 in the series The American Secretaries of State and their Diplomacy. He was a member of the American Political Science Association, he American Historical Association, the American Society of International Law, the American Military Institute, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Delta Phi, and the Cosmos Club.

George Bernard Noble died November 28, 1972, at Sibley Hospital in Washington D.C., of cancer.