Washington District of Columbia
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| The News-Herald Serving Northeastern Ohio & Northwestern Pennsylvania Conneaut, Ohio - Friday, August 9, 1963
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Heart Exhausted BOSTON (UPI) - Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, infant son of President and Mrs. Kennedy, died today 39 hours after his birth, his heart exhausted in the struggle with a respiratory ailment. The President was with the tiny infant when the end came at 4:04 a.m. EDT in a giant pressure chamber at Children's Hospital Medical Center. He lived just 39 hour (sic) and 12 minutes after his birth by Caesarean section at 12:52 p.m. EDT Wednesday. White house press secretary Pierre Salinger, in making the somber announcement of the child's death, said: ’The struggle of the baby to keep breathing was too much for his heart.” The grief stricken President, red-eyed and his face swollen apparently from crying over the death, arrived at Otis Air Force Base, Mass. at 9:28 a.m. EDT to comfort his wife Jacqueline. Kennedy, wearing a dark blue suit, literally leaped up the hospital steps. His brother, Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy, bounded right after him. Salinger told newsmen the child simply could not stand the strain put on his 17-inch long body by the inability to breathe properly. The pressure chamber was a final effort by pediatricians to ease this burden and for a short time it seemed to be working. Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy had not been notified of the death of the time of Salinger's 4:30 a.m. announcement, the press secretary said. Arrangements are being made for the baby's funeral to be held Saturday, the White House said. ’The exact time and the place of the funeral, which will be private, will be announced later today.” Salinger said. He said this announcement probably would be made at Otis Air Force Base, Mass. The President arranged to fly to Otis by helicopter from a field near the hospital to join Mrs. Kennedy. There. At Otis Air Force Base Hospital where she was recovering from the surgical birth, the atmosphere was still and quiet. Only a few sad faced reporters and photographers stood by - waiting for President Kennedy's arrival to tell his wife the heartbreaking news. Maintain Routine Atmosphere Mrs. Kennedy's staff and others around the hospital were keeping up a routine atmosphere so that the President's wife could rest still more before she learned of the loss of their third child. No one came and no one went from the hospital since the tragic news was flashed around the world. Up to dawn today, Mrs. Kennedy's relatives and staff had been confident her baby would pull through despite its breathing difficulty. The First Lady has been in excellent condition at the base hospital since the birth, 5-1/2 weeks premature, of her son Wednesday. But the infant had struggled all the way.
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