Bruce Chapman was born in 1940 in Evanston, IL. He went on to graduate with honors from Harvard University in 1962. His first career was as an author and journalist, helping to publish Advance, a political magazine, from 1960 until 1964, and co-authoring The Party that Lost its Head in 1966. He also spent a year writing editorials for the New York Herald Tribune.

In 1966, Chapman moved to the West Coast, settling in Seattle. There, he became involved in the Washington state political scene and eventually won a seat on the Seattle City Council in 1971. From there, he was appointed secretary of state of the State of Washington to finish an unexpired term. He was elected in 1975 and reelected to a full term beginning in 1977. In 1981, he ran in the Republican Party gubernatorial primary, coming in third. Later that year, President Reagan appointed him director of the Census Bureau.

After leaving the Census Bureau, Chapman served as deputy assistant to President Reagan from 1983 to 1985. At the same time, he was director of the White House Office of Planning and Evaluation. In 1985, Reagan appointed him ambassador to the United Nations Organizations in Vienna, Austria, where he served until 1988. Chapman is currently president of the Seattle-based Discover Institute, a public policy think tank that focuses on both domestic and international affairs, which he founded in 1990.