Clarence Collier Case was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, graduated from Albion College with an A.B. in English Literature in 1926 and returned to Detroit to teach high school history the same year.

In 1927 he was employed by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Madison, Wisconsin, where he worked until 1929. During the early 1930s Case worked for the Michigan Public Utilities Commission, the YMCA in Detroit and the United States Office of Education. From 1935 to 1937, Case was an educational advisor for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Huron National Forest in Northern Michigan, a position he was especially proud to have held.

He later worked as a parole officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections and in labor relations for Packard Motor Car Company. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, later becoming an officer. After the war he worked for the Kent County (Michigan) Council of Veterans Affairs and the Michigan Department of Economic Development (1948-1950).

During the 1950s Case was extremely active in promoting conservation and youth-assistance programs, an interest he developed while in the CCC. With help from others he founded Citizens for Conservation, Inc. whose objectives paralleled those of the CCC. The organization failed in the mid-1950s due to financial problems, and Case continued on his own, trying to build up support for such programs while working out of the first CCC camp, Camp Roosevelt in Virginia.

In 1958 Case ran for the United States Senate from Michigan, running on a platform of conservation and service to youth, but was unsuccessful. He tried to start a new political party known as the Conservative Party, which was aimed at voters under 30 years of age. Its ideals were the promotion of conservation and service to youth.