From 1960 to 1970, Duffey was an assistant professor and then acting dean and associate professor at Hartford Seminary. He was also founder and director of the Center for Urban Studies there.[4]
Duffey ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970 as a prominent anti-Vietnam War candidate; he had just turned 35 years old. The campaign became notable because several of Duffey's young supporters went on to prominent careers in Democratic politics, including future president Bill Clinton, a Yale Law School student at the time.[5]
The incumbent in that race, Thomas J. Dodd, was the father of future Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd. Dodd, who had been censured by the Senate for corruption, was not re-nominated by the Democratic Party. Instead, Duffey joined Stamford businessman Alphonsus J. (Al) Donahue, State Senate President Edward Marcus, and former congressman Donald J. Irwin[6] in a race to win the party endorsement. Donahue won the Democratic convention, but Duffey went on to win the primary. He finished second in a three-way general election race to Lowell Weicker, with Senator Dodd running as an independent. Some of these events were captured in a documentary, Dissent of the Governed.[7]
Anne Wexler ran Duffey's 1970 campaign. They subsequently married in September 1974, after they had both divorced their respective spouses.[8]
Duffey was appointed chairman of the NEH in August 1977, after an impasse that lasted for half a year.[3] In his capacity as chairman Duffey was central to obtaining NEH funding that established the Library of America.[11]
Duffey became the final director of the United States Information Agency in 1993.[2] He held the position until June 30, 1999, shortly before USIA was incorporated into the State Department on October 1 of that year.[15] He subsequently joined Laureate Education as senior vice president in 1999. There, he was responsible for education and academic quality and coordinated the development of Laureate International Universities network programs and partnerships worldwide.[16]
Duffey married his first wife, Patricia Fortney, in 1952, when he was 19 years old. They had met at a Baptist church youth convention. Together, they had two children: David (who predeceased him in 2019) and Michael. They divorced after the Senate election in 1970.[2] His second wife, Anne Wexler (1930–2009), was a political advisor and lobbyist. She also had two sons from her previous marriage. She died of cancer on August 7, 2009 at age 79.[8]
Duffey died on February 25, 2021, at a retirement community in Washington, D.C.[2] He was 88, and was ill in the time leading up to his death.[12]