Letitia Baldrige

Letitia Baldrige was born in Miami Beach, to “the greatest parents in the world,” except that they had two boys before she was born. Those elder brothers gave her a hard time whenever they could escape their parents' view, but it was great experience for Letitia. After surviving a dozen years of constant fighting (sibling rivalry has never been so colorful), she was now ready to hold her own with the opposite sex. Sexual harassment would never be a problem with her, thanks to her brothers' teaching. She spent her early years in the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Omaha, an experience that greatly contributed to her overall education and ability to accept discipline, but probably greatly strained the peace and quiet of the nuns - the Madams of the Sacred Heart. She graduated from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Conn., and received a bachelor's degree in psychology at Vassar College. She did her graduate work at L'Universite de Geneve in Switzerland. A recipient of four honorary degrees (Doctor of Humane Letters), she was also one of the first women corporate directors on several boards. She serves on the board of directors of a prestigious national business program named for her late brother and former Secretary of Commerce: "The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards."

At age twenty-one she became the Social Secretary to the American Embassy in Paris, serving under Ambassador and Mrs. David Bruce. Then she became the special assistant to Ambassador Clare Boothe Luce in Rome. After returning to America, she became the first woman executive at Tiffany's, the Fifth Avenue jeweler. She then became the Social Secretary to the White House in John F. Kennedy's administration and Chief of Staff for Mrs. Kennedy. In subsequent administrations, she was an advisor to five First Ladies.

In 1964 she founded one of America's earliest woman-owned businesses, Letitia Baldrige Enterprises Inc., a marketing and public relations agency. On the side, she began writing on manners and etiquette in books, magazines, and newspaper columns. Her first book was published in 1956. Her old boss, Clare Boothe Luce, told her that "Anyone can get a book published provided he knows how to apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair." She did manage to apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair, and has had twenty books published so far, on the subjects of manners, entertaining, interior design, and style, including four autobiographies (Roman Candle, Of Diamonds and Diplomats, Juggling, and A Lady First.) Baldrige was the first to write an entire guide to business manners, and keeps publishing updates on behavior (because lifestyles, mores, morals and manners change so quickly and so often.)

Baldrige admits to having made "major gaffes in high places," without being fired by her bosses - an achievement in itself. She is married to Robert Hollensteiner, a real estate developer, and they have two children and six grandchildren. Baldrige maintains that one's own family's manners leave a great deal to be desired, "but then," she claims, "our parents and grandparents before that felt the same way about us!"

Speech Topics

Some People Have All The Luck: A Life Lived Among Palaces, The White House and in the Corporate Maze.

A Fly on Some of the Best Walls in History

Diamonds and Diplomats, Heroes and Fools

Entertaining Lavishly or Penuriously - But Always With Good Taste

The Power of Good Conversation