Upon his return to New York City, he worked as a journalist, freelance ghost writer (briefly writing speeches for Attorney general Robert F. Kennedy) and publicity writer for Remington Rand Corporation. His career as a novelist began in 1961 with the publication of the widely heralded "Revolutionary Road". In 1962, he wrote the screenplay for a film adaptation of William Styron's "Lie Down in Darkness." He subsequently taught writing at Columbia University, the New School for Social Research, Boston University (where his papers are archived), at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, at Wichita State University, the University of Southern California Master of Professional Writing Program, and at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.