I don't know that Gen. Schwarzkopf tried to keep his love of folk music or his autoharp playing a secret. The way I learned about that was from a woman who called Norman Goldman's radio talk show, on the day Schwarzkopf died, and said that she met the General at the Telluride Folk Music Festival a few years back and helped him tune his autoharp, and that he told her he really loved folk music. That doesn't sound like someone trying to keep a secret. I think it's more that the news media probably never paid much attention to anything but the General's military activities and views.