
Joe Klein doesn’t just write political commentary for TIME. In 1996, he has also penned a novel called Primary Colors — under the author name Anonymous. The book is a roman à clef about Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign in 1992. Klein publicly denied several times that he was the author, but eventually came forward at a 1996 news conference. The New York Times reported that Klein protected his identity in the same way a journalist protects his or her sources. “It wasn’t easy. But I felt that there are times when I’ve had to lie to protect a source, and I put this in that category,” he said at the conference, according to the Times. Klein revealed that he’d chosen to remain anonymous unless “tangible evidence” linking him to the book surfaced. And that evidence indeed surfaced, in the form of a handwriting analysis that linked Klein’s penmanship with notes on an early version of Primary Colors. Though many criticized Klein’s initial lack of transparency, he stood by his decision.