The Biggest Social Climbers In History

"Truman Capote has tried, with some success, to get into a world that I have tried, with some success, to get out of," once remarked Gore Vidal, the author's famous nemesis. It's true. Swans of a feather flocked to Capote, whose writing success secured him somewhat of his own reputation in New York. But it was his strategic friendships with the well-to-do women of the city, like Babe Paley and Lee Radziwill, which catapulted him into the upper echelon. That lasted until he, for some reason, decided to publish a chapter of his unfinished novel, Answered Prayers, in Esquire. Titled "La Côte Basque," the work featured thinly-veiled references to the personal lives of all his friends, who, as one would expect, dropped him immediately. Talk about social suicide.