Patrick Bouvier Kennedy

Kennedy died at 4:04 a.m. on August 9—"despite a desperate medical effort to save him"—having lived 39 hours and 12 minutes. At the time of the infant's death, the president was outside the room with the hyperbaric chamber with his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The First Lady, then 34, remained at Otis Air Force Base Hospital recovering from the caesarean section. She was told of her son's death by Dr. Walsh. (He would console her again after her husband's assassination; he was aboard Air Force One with her as she returned from Dallas with the president's body). She was given a sedative and slept until the president flew from Boston. Very little was said about the family's reaction; White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger stated of the First Lady's condition, "Given the circumstances, her condition is satisfactory." The president, who had reportedly only slept four hours since the birth, was photographed arriving at Otis Air Force Base looking "grave and appearing tired".

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (August 7, 1963 – August 9, 1963) was the infant child of United States President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was the younger brother of Caroline and John Jr.; another daughter was stillborn. Born prematurely, Kennedy lived just over 39 hours before desperate attempts to save him failed, putting the First Family and nation into mourning. Three months later, his death was eclipsed by his father's assassination, but the Kennedy infant's death brought hyaline membrane disease (HMD) into the public consciousness and inspired further research.

In August 1963, the 34-year-old Jacqueline Kennedy was in her third year as First Lady and in the third trimester of her fifth pregnancy. 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). Two healthy children had followed, Caroline in 1957 and John Jr. in 1960. As John had also been premature, she asked her obstetrician, John W. Walsh, to accompany her when she and her children spent the summer in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Nearby Otis Air Force Base Hospital had also prepared a suite for her in case it was necessary.

While his father was aboard Air Force One, Kennedy was delivered by emergency caesarean section at 12:52 p.m. on August 7, 1963, at the Otis Air Force Base Hospital in Bourne, Massachusetts, five and 1/2 weeks prematurely. The caesarean section was performed by Dr. Walsh, who had also delivered John Jr. in 1960. His birth weight was 4 pounds 10  ⁄2  ounces (2.11 kg). He was the first baby to be born to a sitting U.S. president and First Lady since the 19th century.

A small funeral mass was held on August 10, 1963, in the private chapel of Cardinal Richard Cushing in Boston. The president's mother was in Paris and told not to return for the funeral, though the First Lady's sister, Lee Radziwill had already flown in from Greece before Kennedy died. Cardinal Cushing, the Archbishop of Boston, performed the funeral mass, as he would for John F. Kennedy, assassinated 104 days later. Siblings Caroline, then 5 years old, and John Jr., 2 1/2, did not attend.

The child was initially buried at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts, the president's hometown. His body and that of a stillborn sister, whom Jacqueline Kennedy called Arabella, 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.

Kennedy's death made 1963 a "pivotal year" for neonatology, still a relatively new field at the time, according to an examination of the field's history in the journal Neonatology. The increased public awareness of HMD led to a corresponding increase in research of the disease, spurring development of new medical ventilators, blood gas tests, and newborn intensive care practices in both the United States and Europe. The first trials of a potential treatment for HMD, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, were published within a few years, although it was not considered a clinical success. According to Dr. Suhas M. Nafday, director of Newborn Services at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, the child's death "energized the neonatal researchers into action to look for an effective management of respiratory distress syndrome." In a review of advances in clinical medicine, researcher Thor Hansen observed that the "medical profession did not have the tools to help" Kennedy, "the newborn son of arguably the most powerful man in the world," but that fifty years later, treatment of his condition would be considered routine and survival expected.

Shortly after birth, Kennedy developed symptoms of hyaline membrane disease (HMD), now called infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS). It was detected by breathing difficulties within minutes. The president arrived, saw his son in distress, and sent for a chaplain. The infant was quickly baptized with the name of Patrick after his grandfather Joseph Patrick Kennedy (1888–1969) and great-grandfather Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858–1929), and Bouvier for his mother's maiden name.