Inside the Heartbreakingly Brief Life of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, JFK and Jackie’s Youngest Son

Shortly after 10 p.m., press secretary Pierre Salinger stepped before reporters in a makeshift pressroom at the Statler Hotel. For the first time he acknowledged that Patrick had a breathing ailment, identifying it the way doctors did, as “idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome.” Playing down the seriousness, he explained that the condition was not uncommon in premature infants. But he acknowledged it was “a cause for concern.” He told reporters it would be four days before doctors…