Name that Person

I have a new game for you to play. I came across the following bio, and was curious, if you could identify who the following person is. For some, you may know it right off. I guess you can enter the guesses in the comments section, and we'll award some fantastic prize to the winner.
Ready? It's an impressive bio:
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This person's father was an Air Force general who pushed his son toward a military career. An aspiring writer, they earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University (Merton College, Oxford) after previously attending Pomona College. While in England, they began writing songs and working with his manager Larry Parnes; he recorded for Top Rank Records under the an alias, but was unsuccessful. In 1960, this person graduated with a master's degree in English literature and married an old girlfriend, Fran Beer. His studies of literature are reflected in one of the songs; the French writer Voltaire satirized similar ideas of philosophical optimism in his short novel Candide. This person ultimately joined the U.S. Army and achieved the rank of captain and became a helicopter pilot, which served this person well. Later, during the early 1960s, this person was stationed in West Germany and returned to music and formed a band. In 1965, this person resigned their commission to pursue songwriting. He had just been assigned to become a professor at West Point.