The Resume

(February 9, 1926-October 29, 2012)
Born in Miami, Florida
Public relations executive and etiquette expert
White House Social Secretary for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1961-63)
Founded the PR firm Letitia Baldrige Enterprises (1964)
Wrote a newspaper column about etiquette
Updated Amy Vanderbilt's 'Complete Book of Etiquette' (1978) and 'Everyday Ettiquette' (1979)
Wrote the books '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), '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' (2003) and 'Taste: Acquiring What Money Can't Buy' (2007)

Why she might be annoying:

She worked for the CIA in psychological warfare and said, 'In retrospect, what they were doing was not so different from public relations today.'
While working as the social secretary at the American embassy in Paris, she created a faux pas by unwittingly sitting a French guest next to his wife's lover.
She said that on her initial return from France, 'I was thoroughly obnoxious, a big blonde snob.'
Although a registered Republican, she campaigned for John F. Kennedy.
During her first press conference as Jackie Kennedy's social secretary, she ticked off the boss by describing her as 'a woman who has everything, including the next president of the United States.'
She also dubbed the nation's ladies' clubs 'those great vast hordes of females.'
She could sound old-fashioned in talking about contemporary manners (or, more often, the lack of them).

Why she might not be annoying:

She was the first female executive at the famed jeweler Tiffany & Co.
She oversaw the cultural events (jazz concerts, ballets, operas, etc.) that established the 'Camelot' atmosphere in the Kennedy White House.
She did charity fundraising with Jane Goodall to preserve chimpanzee habitats.
She updated etiquette rules, such as recommending that a door should be opened by whoever reached it first, whether a man or a woman.
She said the purpose of etiquette was not to follow a strict set of rules but to show consideration for other people.
She had a self-deprecating sense of humor about her own etiquette gaffes over the course of her career.
She said, 'One must toss off today's crisis with a shrug. Tomorrow's will be far worse.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 45]
• I Attended Miss Porter's [Farmington, Connecticut]
• I Attended Vassar
• I Died in 2012 (Ranked: 86)
• I Worked at the C.I.A.
• Look at Me, I'm on the Cover of Time
• Look at My Magazine Cover
• Profiles 33501-33750 (Ranked: 33640)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 84.62% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 19 Votes: 84.21% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 140 Votes: 80.0% Annoying