Born in Peoria, Illinois, Beam moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, in 1899. He attended St. Mary's School, Marshalltown, Iowa, and Holy Family School, Chicago, Illinois, was graduated from St. Ignatius College (now known as Loyola University Chicago), in 1912 and from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, in 1916. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Chicago, Illinois. During the First World War served as a seaman, first class, in the United States Navy from May 1918 to December 1918. He served as assistant corporation counsel of Chicago 1923–1927.

In 1923, Beam was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for the Superior Court of Cook County.^[1]

Beam was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1931, until his resignation on December 6, 1942. He served as chairman of the Committee on Memorials (Seventy-seventh Congress).

Beam was elected as a judge of the Municipal Court of Chicago in 1942, and was reelected in 1948, 1954, and 1960. He engaged in legal practice and retired in 1964.

Beam was a resident of Chicago, Illinois, until his death there on December 31, 1967. He was interred in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip.

• List of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee

• United States Congress. "Harry P. Beam (id: B000274)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress