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In 1936–38 he served with the Social Science Research Council and the National Resources Planning Board.

In 1936–38 he served with the Social Science Research Council and the National Resources Planning Board.

During [[World War II]] he worked with his mentor [[Harold Gosnell]] at the Bureau of the Budget.

During [[World War II]] he worked with his mentor Harold Gosnell at the Bureau of the Budget.

In 1942 Key published the first edition of his textbook, ''Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups'', in which he emphasized that politics was a contest and the main players were organized interest groups. The book decisively shaped the teaching of political science by introducing realism in analysis of politics, introducing the "interest group" model, and introducing behavioral methods based on statistical analysis of election returns. It went through three editions but was not revised after his death.  His ''Southern Politics in State and Nation'' (1949) was a microscopic examination, state by state, of Southern politics using interviews and statistics. [http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/42 see the discussion by John Corbett.]  In ''Public Opinion and American Democracy'' (1961) he analyzed the link between the changing patterns of public opinion and the governmental system. He opposed the "Michigan model" that that argued voters' preferences were determined by psychological factors, thereby taking most of the politics out of political science. In his posthumous work, ''The Responsible Electorate: Rationality in Presidential Voting 1936–60'' (1966), he analyzed public opinion data and electoral returns to show what he believed to be the rationality of voters' choices as political decisions rather than responses to psychological stimuli.  

In 1942 Key published the first edition of his textbook, ''Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups'', in which he emphasized that politics was a contest and the main players were organized interest groups. The book decisively shaped the teaching of political science by introducing realism in analysis of politics, introducing the "interest group" model, and introducing behavioral methods based on statistical analysis of election returns. It went through three editions but was not revised after his death.  His ''Southern Politics in State and Nation'' (1949) was a microscopic examination, state by state, of Southern politics using interviews and statistics. [http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/42 see the discussion by John Corbett.]  In ''Public Opinion and American Democracy'' (1961) he analyzed the link between the changing patterns of public opinion and the governmental system. He opposed the "Michigan model" that that argued voters' preferences were determined by psychological factors, thereby taking most of the politics out of political science. In his posthumous work, ''The Responsible Electorate: Rationality in Presidential Voting 1936–60'' (1966), he analyzed public opinion data and electoral returns to show what he believed to be the rationality of voters' choices as political decisions rather than responses to psychological stimuli.  

Other works by Key include ''The Techniques of Political Graft in the United States'' (1936), ''A Primer of Statistics for Political Scientists'' (1954), and ''American State Politics: An Introduction'' (1956).  He pioneered the study of [[critical elections]] and served as president of the [[American Political Science Association]] in 1958–59.

Other works by Key include ''The Techniques of Political Graft in the United States'' (1936), ''A Primer of Statistics for Political Scientists'' (1954), and ''American State Politics: An Introduction'' (1956).  He pioneered the study of critical elections and served as president of the [[American Political Science Association]] in 1958–59.

He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.