A Lady, First: My Life in the Kennedy White House and the American Embassies of Paris and Rome

Rating:
Summary: Strong women with great manners are always in style ...
Review: ??Letitia Baldrige, America's own Grande Dame of etiquette and pioneer career gal brings us her latest autobiography "A Lady First...My Life in the Kennedy White House and the American Embassies of Paris and Rome" (Penguin Books). A sub-subtitle could be "Workaholic Girl Genius"!

Ms. Baldrige shares an almost interesting series of polite cocktail party anecdotes about the wacky employment adventures of her ambitious, well-connected and dynamic self...set in the sophisticated, restricted society of the cultural and political elite...on two continents!? "Matters of the heart remain unchronicled" (a direct quote), as are many details.? Demurely omitted are mishaps that are actually funny, and emotional memories like the sensation of executing a fourteen-hour high pressure workday wearing a tight girdle, hose, and dainty shoes!? We are allowed a censored glimpse into her world (again to quote) of "les gens qui comptent/people who matter". The real lowdown on this exclusive circle of wealth and privilege is not revealed to those of us who don't.

?The spirit of the diary is ever-sparkling...sprinkled throughout, like the gems in Tiffany's vitrines, with the following words: "lucky"; "delightful"; "perfect"; "chic"; "splendor"; "magnificent"; "glamourous"; "aristocracy"; "epitome"; "cheerful"; "amusing"; "charming"; "air of excitement"; "wellborn"; "superb"; "crown jewels"; "imposing mansion"; "brilliant and influential"; "great cheese"; "royal"; "haute couture"; "enchanting"; "jolly"; "bejeweled to the extreme"; "luxury"; "magical"; impeccable"; "flawless"; "graceful"; "hold the record for lavishness"; "magical"; "sumptuous"; "exquisitely romantic"; and "honored to be in the presence of greatness".

These descriptions are minimally balanced with "Cold War";"scary"; "the threat of Communists in hot pursuit"; "stenotype machine"; "creamed chicken"; and "that frightful state of being known as 'self-supporting'".

From Ms. Baldrige's lofty perch in her world of La Bonne Vie...albeit as an employed person...could it have been an act of noblesse oblige to present this material in softcover for (again to quote) the "economically challenged"?

?Perhaps this reviewer has been misinformed regarding the concept of talking about oneself as being a display of bad manners.? "A Lady, First..." is a six-decade parade of The Comportment Police's own personal Uberfabulous Hall of Fame.

Rating:
Summary: The Wind Beneath Their Wings
Review: I have always been a fan of Miss Baldrige, and I have several of her books, but I really enjoyed this one. I feel it gives a more personal glimpse into the HOW behind the WOW. She really was (is) the wind beneath the wings of her glamorous employers, Evangeline Bruce, Clare Boothe Luce, Jacqueline Kennedy. Creative mind behind the clever Tiffany campaigns, and later of her own company Letitia Baldrige Enterprises.

I particularly enjoyed her telling of early life, and then of life on her own. I have always found her quite as interesting as her illustrious employers, and delight to catch her on television.

I think her chouce of "A lady, First:" says it all.
She is indeed a lady, and a very interesting one.

I recommend this book heartily.

Rating:
Summary: Classy!
Review: I just couldn't put this book down! Mrs. Baldridge has led a wonderful and exciting life.

Rating:
Summary: A Lady, First: My Life in the Kennedy White House and the Am
Review: Just when you think there can't be anything new or insightful written about Jackie Kennedy, along comes this book. The book is also about Clare Boothe Luce and Baldrige herself.

My favorite parts were when Baldrige revealed her failures and how she overcame what she and her generation considered her drawbacks and failures. Baldrige is an inspiration. I wish I had read this 30 years ago. I would never have wasted so much time regretting not looking like the straight-haired, model-thin girls of my generation. She inspires me now.

Excerpts from this book should be required reading for high-school girls. Every time I've been told no, I took it as final, door closed, you failed ... After reading this book, it is obvious that there is a better way to view and handle life's setbacks and rejections.

And this book is a very good read about Jackie Kennedy and Clare Boothe Luce.

Rating:
Summary: The 9 lives of Letitia Baldrige
Review: Letitia Baldrige busily whirled from exciting moment to moment, country to country, state to state and left the sweet smelling fragrance of her personality and fingerprints everywhere she went without much financial gain or personal recognition until now. She loved her work, and worked because she loved it, in an era when women had not yet fully emerged from beyond their households.

She loved people famous and not, and spent her time making them, the elite and others look even larger than life. It's her turn in this book to give an account of all she has achieved as her marks in history are still present and very alive today.

What an interesting and amazing, yet humble perspective of her world, and the world she changed and made more interesting for all of us.

She did it all, she did it well, and unbelievably, she did it ONE lifetime! I am sure she is not finished yet.

Rating:
Summary: Class from the past!
Review: Oh! how I wish I had a life like Tish Baldridge's! She is a gutsy and classy lady and I admire her for that. I loved to read that book because it goes to show that dreams come true when we put the energy and efforts for them to materialize.

Rating:
Summary: Class from the past!
Review: Tish Baldridge has led an interesting and amazing life. She wasn't blessed with great wealth or beauty yet she managed to live and work on the upper echelons of American political and social society in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and onward.
Baldridge takes you through her beginnings in the midwest, her education at Miss Porter's and Vassar as one of the less financially advantaged students, her life in Paris and Rome working for such trend setters as Clare Booth Luce, her days at Tiffany, her years in the White House with Jackie Kennedy, and her life after.

Here's what is great about this book and her story: her life didn't begin and it didn't end with her association with Jackie Kennedy. Camelot fans will get great glimpses into those years from her vantage point. But there is a lot more to this book...

I would highly recommend this book to women who love biographies on the Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn set. I also would recommend this book to women who enjoy the story of a self-made woman and a survivor and anyone interested in the social history of this era. I would not recommend this book to most men and I would caution all readers to note that this is a book filled with details of food, flowers, gowns, and jewels and not policy making or congressional bills. You learn about the parties that Jackie Kennedy went to in the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis not about the policy nuances behind the crisis.

I gave this book as a present to several female friends and they loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Tish, we hardly knew ye
Review: Yes, this book is a rehash of Diamonds and Diplomats but with one huge difference. In D&D Ms. Baldridge was not entirely frank. Since many of the people she wrote about in that book were still alive she had to sugar coat the truth considerably. Now, with Lady First she is free to set the record straight.

She explains fully for the first time why she really left the White House and although she clearly adored Clare Booth Luce she's now free to show that working for her was no picnic.

Also, we get a superior picture of the author herself. Bold or pushy, if you prefer she charted her own course and made her own dreams come true whether it was to get herself to Paris or into the CIA or to be the first American female tourist in Yugoslavia after WWII.

If you think of Leticia Baldrige as just being the etiquette lady or you only remember her from her White House stint then this book will will show you an entirely different side.