Kammala wannan magana: Bayan ya sami digiri na farko na zane-zane, Donovan ya yi shekaru biyu a Makarantar Koyon Shari'a ta Columbia, inda ya kasance abokin aji na Franklin D. Roosevelt, kuma ya yi karatu a karkashin Harlan Fiske Stone. Da ya koma Buffalo, ya shiga kamfanin lauya mai daraja na Love & Keating a 1909 kuma, bayan shekaru biyu, ya buɗe kamfaninsa na Buffalo tare da abokin aikinsa na Columbia, Bradley Goodyear. A shekara ta 1914, kamfaninsu ya haɗu da wani, ya zama Goodyear & O'Brien. A cikin 1912, Donovan ya taimaka ya kafa, kuma ya zama shugaban, rundunar sojan doki na New York National Guard. An tattara wannan rukunin a shekara ta 1916 kuma ya yi aiki a kan iyakar Amurka da Mexico a lokacin yakin da gwamnatin Amurka ta yi da
Pancho Villa. (Mai suna) Ya yi nazarin dabarun soji da dabarun yaƙi. Ya kuma dauki darussan wasan kwaikwayo a Birnin New York daga wani tauraron wasan kwaikwayo na rana, Eleanor Robson. A shekara ta 1914, ya auri Ruth Rumsey, magajin Buffalo wanda ya halarci Rosemary Hall.