A twentieth-century American writer of realistic works of romantic fiction, he is best known for An Armful of Warm Girl, A Difference in Design, and A Little Decorum. He also published an essay collection called On the Decay of Humanism.
After graduating from Princeton University, he studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Later, he received a Rockefeller Fellowship to attend Columbia University.
He briefly taught at New York University.
He grew up in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He married Mary Ann Matthews in 1929; they had three children.
He was highly praised by author and literary critic, John Updike.