Twilight of Camelot: The Short Life and Long Legacy of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy

Losing a baby broke the First Couple’s hearts but revived their marriage according to this emotionally probing history. Former Washington Post editor Levingston (Little Demon in the City of Light) recaps the death of Patrick Kennedy two days after Jackie Kennedy gave birth to him, five weeks early, in August 1963; he succumbed to hyaline membrane disease, a lung disorder that was often fatal in premature infants. Patrick’s demise, Levingston notes, captivated the world and inspired improvements in neonatal healthcare that have all but eliminated such deaths, funded in part by bills President Kennedy signed after his son’s death. But Levingston’s focus is on the tragedy’s role in JFK’s transformation from heartless womanizer—he was yachting with other women when Jackie gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1956—to loving family man. This time, Kennedy stood vigil over his dying son and shed “cataracts” of tears after his death. In the aftermath, the couple made previously uncommon public displays of affection, while Kennedy bonded with his young children. (He also, according to Levingston, swore off sex with his two mistresses, even as he continued to rendezvous with them.) Later chapters explore how the newly rekindled relationship compounded Jackie’s trauma after the assassination. Levingston fleshes out his chronicle of the couple’s reconciliation in soap-operatic prose. It makes for an affecting if occasionally maudlin addition to the Camelot saga. (Feb.)