The Presidency: Home Again

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THE PRESIDENCY

The First Lady of the U.S. arose early, donned a pink shift and distributed gifts (lithographs of the White House inscribed: "With deep appreciation, Jacqueline Kennedy, August, 1963") to the doctors and nurses. She was anxious to leave, and at 10:43 a.m., Joe Kennedy's blue Chrysler limousine pulled up to building 3707 at Otis Air Force Base. President Kennedy entered the squat, lime-hued hospital wing, emerged four minutes later, his left hand firmly clasp ing his wife's right. The sun had broken through a grey overcast. They looked, remarked a bystander, "like a couple of school kids." Thus Jackie Kennedy, smil ing faintly, went home last week, after the birth and death of her son Patrick.

Within ten minutes after taking off from the airbase helipad, the chopper carrying Jackie, Jack and Dr. John Walsh set down in a 35-m.p.h. wind on Squaw Island, site of Brambletyde, the Kennedys' shingle-sided, rented summer home. Obstetrician Walsh advised Jackie to abandon her social calendar for the remainder of the year, including the up coming state dinners for the King of Afghanistan Sept. 5 and the Emperor of Ethiopia Oct. 1 , to ensure "complete rehabilitation and continuing good health."