Claimed coincidences connecting U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are a piece of American folklore of unknown origin. The list of coincidences appeared in the mainstream American press in 1964, a year after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, having appeared prior to that in the GOP Congressional Committee Newsletter. Martin Gardner examined the list in an article in Scientific American, later reprinted in his book, The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix. Gardner's version of the list contained 16 items; many subsequent versions have circulated much longer lists. The list is still in circulation today, having endured in the popular imagination for over 50 years. In 1992, the Skeptical Inquirer ran a "Spooky Presidential Coincidences Contest." One winner found a series of sixteen similar coincidences between Kennedy and former Mexican PresidentÁlvaro Obregón, while the other came up with similar lists for twenty-one pairs of U.S. presidents.
The list
The following are the list of "coincidences" that are commonly associated with the conspiracy, some of which are not true statements:
Both presidents were elected to Congress in '46.
Both presidents were elected to the presidency in '60.
"Lincoln" and "Kennedy" each have 7 letters.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
*Lincoln was married on November 4, 1842, Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, making him 33 years old at the time of his wedding. Lincoln's bride, Mary Anne Todd, was born on December 13, 1818, making her 23 years old at the time of the wedding.
*Kennedy was married on September 12, 1953, Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, making him 36 years old at the time of his wedding. Kennedy's bride, Jacqueline Bouvier, was born on July 28, 1929, making her 24 years old at the time of the wedding.
Both lost a son while living in the White House: Lincoln lost his 11-year-old son, William, and Kennedy lost his infant son, Patrick.
Both of the presidents' successors were named Johnson: Lincoln was succeeded by Andrew Johnson, and Kennedy was succeeded by Lyndon B. Johnson.
Both were succeeded by Southerners: Andrew Johnson was from Raleigh, North Carolina, and Lyndon B. Johnson was from Texas.
Both successors were born in '08: Andrew Johnson was born December 29, 1808, and Lyndon B. Johnson was born August 27, 1908
Both assassins, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, are known by their three names.
Each assassin's full name is composed of fifteen letters.
Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse, and Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater:
*Booth did run from Ford's Theatre where he shot Lincoln, and was caught in a barn in Virginia.
*Oswald fled from the Texas School Book Depository, which was a warehouse, was where Oswald worked, and was where he had shot Kennedy from, and was arrested in a movie theater.
Uncertain Facts
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials:
*After refusing to surrender, John Wilkes Booth was shot by trooper Boston Corbett.
*Oswald was assassinated by Jack Ruby while on his way to the county jail on November 24, 1963.
False Facts
Lincoln's secretary named Kennedy: Although President Kennedy did have a secretary named Evelyn Lincoln, there is no record that President Lincoln had a secretary named "Kennedy".
Both assassins were born in '39: John Wilkes Booth was born May 10, 1838, while Lee Harvey Oswald was born October 18, 1939.
Analysis
Some urban folklorists have postulated that the list provided a way for people to make sense of two tragic events in American history by seeking out patterns. Gardner and others have said that it is relatively easy to find seemingly meaningful patterns relating any two people or events. Most of the items above are true, such as the year in which Lincoln and Kennedy were each elected President, but this is not so unusual given that Presidential elections are held only every four years. A few of the items are simply untrue: for example, there is no record to show that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy; Lincoln's secretaries were John Hay and John G. Nicolay. John Wilkes Booth was born in 1838, not 1839, and Lee Harvey Oswald was normally just "Lee Oswald" before the assassination. However, Lincoln's footman, William H. Crook did advise Lincoln not to go that night to Ford's Theatre. David Mikklenson, on Snopes, also points out numerous ways in which Lincoln and Kennedy don't match, to show the superficial nature of the alleged coincidences: For example, Lincoln was born in 1809 but Kennedy in 1917; though Lincoln and Kennedy were both elected in '60, Lincoln was already in his second term when assassinated but Kennedy was not, and neither the years, months, nor dates of their assassinations match.
Musical legacy
wrote a song recounting many of these coincidences and parallels between the two presidents' careers and deaths entitled "History Repeats Itself." It became a U.S. Top 40 hit for him during the spring of 1966, and reached number two on the Country chart. Cab Calloway also scored a minor chart hit with the song that same year.
