Letitia "Tish" Baldrige (February 9, 1926 – October 29, 2012) was an American

etiquette Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

expert,

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

executive and author who was most famous for serving as

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...

'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 Amy Osborne Vanderbilt (July 22, 1908 – December 27, 1974) was an American authority on etiquette. In 1952 she published the best-selling book ''Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette''. The book, later retitled ''Amy Vanderbilt's Etiquet ...

's ''Complete Book of Etiquette'',Letitia Baldrige, Obituary, ''The Telegraph'', October 31, 2012, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9646580/Letitia-Baldrige.html she published 20 books and appeared on ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'' and the cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine.

Early life

Letitia Baldrige was born February 9, 1926, in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, and grew up in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, 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 The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

during the

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

administration. Baldrige attended

Miss Porter's School Miss Porter's School (MPS) is an elite American private college preparatory school for girls founded in 1843, and located in Farmington, Connecticut. The school draws students from 21 states, 31 countries (with dual-citizenship and/or residence), ...

in Farmington, CT, where she met Jacqueline Bouvier, the future First Lady. The two also attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

together, from which Baldrige graduated in 1946 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Career

Early years

After first being denied a position and told to improve her secretarial skills, she reapplied and was hired by the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

as social secretary to David K.E. Bruce, US ambassador to France. After three years she was appointed secretary in Rome to the American ambassador to Italy,

Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which h ...

, followed by a position as director of public relations for the jeweller

Tiffany & Co Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is a high-end luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It sells jewelry, sterling silver, porcelain, crystal, stationery, fragrances, water bottles, watc ...

. Although then a registered Republican, in 1960 she was invited to work for the Kennedy campaign in Massachusetts once he secured the Democratic presidential nomination, going on to work officially for the First Lady after his victory. Baldridge served in the post of White House Social Secretary, coordinating aspects of the Inauguration, receptions, and state dinners. Saying she "had had it" with the long days in Washington and serving the administration on overseas trips, she resigned early in 1963, to return briefly to aid the First Lady after her husband's

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

in November of that year.

After the Kennedy White House

She served on the board of directors of the

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellen ...

. She also did significant charity work with

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best know ...

to help fundraise for the preservation of habitats for wild chimpanzees. In 1964, the year after marrying real estate developer Robert Hollensteiner, whom she met while working for a Kennedy family firm, she founded her own PR business, Letitia Baldrige Enterprises, Chicago. Earning the nickname the "Doyenne of Decorum" with a newspaper column and a string of successful books, in 1978 she appeared on the November 28th cover of ''

''. She continued working into late life, publishing books in every decade from the 1950s, her final book being, ''Taste: Acquiring What Money Can't Buy'', released in 2007.

Death

Baldrige died of cardiac complications at a nursing facility in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, on October 29, 2012. Mary M. Mitchell, a longtime friend and collaborator, confirmed her death. She was survived by her husband, Robert Hollensteiner, and their two children, Clare and Malcolm.Letitia Baldrige dies at 86, by Emily Langer, ''Washington Post'', October 30, 201

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References

Bibliography

* ''Roman Candle'', 1956 * ''Tiffany Table Settings'', 1958 * ''Of Diamonds and Diplomats'', 1968 * ''Home'', 1972 * ''Juggling: The Art of Balancing Marriage, Motherhood, and Career'', 1976 * ''The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette'', 1978 * ''Amy Vanderbilt’s Everyday Etiquette'', 1979 * ''Entertainers'', 1981 * ''Letitia Baldrige’s Complete Guide to Executive Manners'', 1985 * ''Letitia Baldrige’s Complete Guide to a Great Social Life'', 1987 * ''Letitia Baldrige’s Complete Guide to the New Manners for the '90s'', 1989 * ''Public Affairs, Private Relations'', 1990 (a novel) * ''Letitia Baldrige’s New Complete Guide to Executive Manners'', 1993 * ''Letitia Baldrige’s More than Manners! Raising Today's Kids to Have Kind Manners and Good Hearts'', 1997 * ''In the Kennedy Style: Magical Evenings in the Kennedy White House'' (with Rene Verdon), 1998 * ''Legendary Brides: From the Most Romantic Weddings Ever, Inspired Ideas for Today’s Brides'', 2000 * ''A Lady, First: My Life in the White House and the American Embassies of Paris and Rome'', 2001 * ''Letitia Baldrige’s New Manners for New Times: A Complete Guide to Etiquette'', 2003 * ''The Kennedy Mystique'' (with Jon Goodman, Hugh Sidey, Robert Dallek and Barbara Baker Burrows), 2006 * ''Taste: Acquiring What Money Can't Buy'', 2007

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', July 8, 1992 * ttps://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11966130 Letitia Baldrige on NPR
Brief Appearance on Letterman

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldrige, Letitia 2012 deaths 1926 births Kennedy administration personnel Vassar College alumni Miss Porter's School alumni Etiquette writers Writers from Nebraska Writers from Washington, D.C. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis