John Harlan Amen was born on September 15, 1898 to Harlan Page Amen and Mary Rawson in Exeter, New Hampshire. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1915, where his father had previously been appointed as a principal, and from Princeton University in 1919. He attended Harvard Law School from 1919 to 1923.Marquis Who's Who, Inc. Who Was Who in American History, the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 9
