Patrick Bouvier Kennedy by Michael S. Ryan

While his father was aboard Air Force One, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was delivered by emergency caesarean section at 12:52 p.m. on August 7, a Wednesday, to report that Jackie had gone into premature labor on Cape Cod, there was 'no way in God's earth' that he did not think, My child is being born 20 years to the day when I was rescued, a coincidence providing an additional emotional dimension to a day that would be among the most traumatic of his life. PT-109 and August 7 were never far from his mind he kept a scale model of the boat on a shelf in the Oval Office and each day used a metal tie clasp shaped like a torpedo boat, with PT 109 stamped across its bow.Īll of which may explain why Kennedy’s friend and fellow World War II naval veteran Ben Bradlee is certain that when the president’s secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, hurried into the Oval Office at 11:43 a.m. His heroics had helped launch his political career. Kennedy had been in command of Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer, killing two of his crew. August 7 was the 20-year anniversary of the day the Navy had rescued him in World War II after he had spent five days marooned on an island in the Pacific. President Kennedy was at the White House at the time. Walsh was summoned, and they were taken by helicopter to the Otis Air Force Base. While the children were riding, Kennedy felt labor pains. On the morning of Wednesday, August 7, Jackie Kennedy took Caroline and John Jr for a pony ride in Osterville, Massachusetts.

Nearby Otis Air Force Base Hospital had also prepared a suite for her in case it was necessary. Walsh, to accompany her when she and her children spent the summer in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. As John had also been premature, she asked her obstetrician, John W.

Two healthy children had followed, Caroline in 1957 and John Jr. She had suffered a miscarriage in 1955, followed the next year by a stillborn baby girl they planned to name Arabella (after the Arbella ship). In August 1963, the 34-year-old Jackie Kennedy was in her third year as First Lady and in the third trimester of her fifth pregnancy.

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy by Michael S. Ryan