Letitia Baldrige | |
---|---|
White House Social Secretary | |
In office 1961–1963 |
|
Appointed by | Jacqueline Kennedy |
Preceded by | Mary Jane McCaffrey |
Succeeded by | Nancy Tuckerman |
Personal details | |
Born |
Miami, Florida, U.S. |
February 9, 1926
Died | October 29, 2012 Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
(aged 86)
Spouse(s) | Robert Hollensteiner (m. 1964–2012) |
Children | 2 |
Occupation |
Public relations executive Etiquette expert |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Letitia "Tish" Baldrige (February 9, 1926 – October 29, 2012) was an American etiquette expert, public relations executive and author who was most famous for serving as Jacqueline Kennedy's Social Secretary.
Known as the "Doyenne of Decorum", she wrote a newspaper column, ran her own PR firm, and, along with updating Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette, she published 20 books and appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and the cover of Time magazine.
Letitia Baldrige was born February 9, 1926 in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, the youngest child of Republican Congressman Howard Malcolm Baldrige and his wife, Regina (née Connell). Her brother was Howard Malcolm Baldrige, Jr., the initial Secretary of Commerce during the Ronald Reagan administration .
Baldrige attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, CT, where she met Jacqueline Bouvier, the future First Lady. The two also attended Vassar College together, from which Baldrige graduated in 1946 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
After first being denied a position and told to improve her secretarial skills, she reapplied and was hired by the State Department as social secretary to David K.E. Bruce, US ambassador to France. After three years she would be appointed secretary in Rome to the American ambassador to Italy, Clare Boothe Luce, followed by a position as director of public relations for the jeweller Tiffany & Co.