Merle Miller

MERLE MILLER was born in a small town in lowa in 1919 and attended the University of lowa and the London School of Eco-nomics. Miller was awarded two Bronze Stars for bravery during World War II, both of which he later returned out of protet for American action in Vietnam. After the war, he worked as an editor at Harper's and Time magazine and was a contributing editor for The Nation.

His books include the best-selling novels That Winter (1948) and A Gay and Melancholy Sound (1962), a comic nonfiction narrative about writing for television called Only You, Dick Daring! (1964), and several best-selling presidential biographies, including Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974).

In 1971, he responded to a homophobic article written by Joseph Epstein in Harper's with the raw, personal, and indicting essay that became On Being Different, making him one of the first prominent Americans to come out publicly. Miller died in 1986.