Patrick Bouvier Kennedy birth...

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August 08, 1963

THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, Detroit, Michigan, August 8, 1963

* John F. Kennedy JFK third child born
* Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
* White House baby

This 36 page newspaper has a nice headline on the front page: "NEW KENNEDY SON IS HIT BY BREATHING AILMENT" with subheads that include: "Baby Rushed To Specialists" and more with related photos.

Tells of the premature birth of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. He was one of the very few babies born while the father was President of the United States. He would die a few days later due to complications.

Other news of the day. A few small binding holes along the spine, two library stamps in the masthead, otherwise in good condition.

wikipedia notes: Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (August 7, 1963 - August 9, 1963) was the youngest child of United States President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and brother to Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr.. He was born five and a half weeks prematurely by emergency caesarean section at the Otis Air Force Base Hospital in Falmouth, Massachusetts, with a birth weight of 4 pounds 10½ ounces (2.11 kg), was transferred to Boston Children's Hospital where he died two days later of hyaline membrane disease. His obituary in The New York Times stated that, at that time, all that could be done for a victim of hyaline membrane disease "is to monitor the infant's blood chemistry and to try to keep it near normal levels."

Patrick Kennedy's death from hyaline membrane disease, now more commonly called respiratory distress syndrome, helped spark new public awareness of the disease and further research. As of 2004[update], the disease has an overall mortality of less than 15%—and is much less fatal among mildly to moderately premature infants, such as Patrick. Also, treatment modalities are now widely available in developed countries, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), pulmonary surfactant replacement, and improved respirator technology, that either did not exist or were unavailable in 1963, even to the child of a United States president.

A funeral Mass was held on August 10, 1963 in the private chapel of Richard Cardinal Cushing in Boston. Patrick was initially buried at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts. Patrick's body and that of a stillborn sister were re-interred on December 5, 1963 alongside their father at Arlington National Cemetery, and later again moved to their permanent graves in Section 45, Grid U-35.

Category: The 20th Century