It’s hard to imagine Ambassador John Loeb passing himself off as a matador, but he convinced Jackie Kennedy and her sister Lee Radziwill — at least for one night.
In “Reflections, Memories and Confessions,” Loeb — whose son Nick was once engaged to Sofía Vergara — tells how in 1951 in Madrid, one of the grandees of Spain had promised Janet Bouvier Auchincloss that he would introduce her daughters to a great bullfighter.
With all the matadors out of town, Loeb — in Madrid to learn Spanish — was recruited as a substitute.
The charade worked all night long, but then the next day at lunch at the Hotel Ritz, Loeb’s Spanish fluency faltered and the ruse fell apart.
Jackie and Lee were furious, although Letitia Baldrige, Jackie’s social secretary, later recounted that Jackie found it all “terribly funny.”
The memoir also tells of Loeb’s partying with Greta Garbo and Shirley Temple and his meetings with every president since Eisenhower.