On 7 August 1963, Jackie gave birth almost six weeks prematurely to the couple’s second son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. Weighing a little over two kilograms, Patrick lived for only two days, before succumbing to respiratory problems. Although devastated by the loss, Kennedy had little time to grieve, as another pressing international issue demanded his attention, this time concerning Vietnam.
Since the Geneva Accord of 1954, Vietnam had been divided into two separate states: North Vietnam, controlled by the Communist, Ho Chi Minh; and the non-Communist South Vietnam, ruled by the military government of Ngo Dinh Diem. Initially, Diem enjoyed the backing of the US government, but concerns began to mount with the emergence of reports of the brutal suppression of the Buddhist population by Diem, who was Catholic. Diem’s army was also struggling to quell the uprising of Vietcong guerrillas, who were supported by the Communist North Vietnamese administration. This prompted fears that, should the guerrillas succeed in defeating South Vietnamese forces, the country could very well be absorbed into Ho Chi Minh’s regime – an outcome which would be disastrous for the US policy of Communist containment.
Despite pressure from a number of advisers, President Kennedy was reluctant to become directly involved in a Vietnamese war. Instead, he chose to increase the number of ‘military advisers’ in the country to over 16,000, and having failed to convince Diem of the necessity for governmental reforms, he lent his tacit support to a coup d’état by South Vietnamese forces. If everything went according to plan, Diem would be paid off with $1 million, provided by the CIA, and flown to a secret location outside Vietnam.
The scheme backfired spectacularly. On 2 November 1963, President Diem, along with his brother, were assassinated by their captors as they made their way into exile. The one million CIA-funded dollars disappeared. Kennedy was appalled by the outcome. Reminiscent of his reaction to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, he reportedly ‘rushed from the room, with a look of shock and dismay on his face’ upon hearing the news of the South Vietnamese President’s brutal assassination.