From The Mind of Merc - Lincoln & Kennedy

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the oft-remarked similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy. There has been much talk about spooky similarities between the two so I decided to look into them. And I wasn’t disappointed.

First taking just the Presidents themselves:

Lincoln	Kennedy
Last name has 7 letters	Last name has 7 letters
Fathered 4 children; 1 son died during presidency	Fathered 4 children; 1 son died during presidency
Had only one child who survived into the next century	Had only one child who survived into the next century
Wife died in her sixties	Wife died in her sixties
2 sons named Robert and Edward – 1 died young	2 sons named Robert and Edward – 1 died young
Suffered from a genetic disease – Marfan’s Syndrome	Suffered from a genetic disease – Addison’s Disease

Their political careers

Elected to House of Representatives in 1846	Elected to House of Representatives in 1946
Losing candidate for his party's vice-presidential nomination in 1856	Losing candidate for his party's vice-presidential nomination in 1956
Elected to the presidency in 1860	Elected to the presidency in 1860
Defeated incumbent Vice President  (Breckenbridge) for the presidency	Defeated incumbent Vice President  (Nixon) for the presidency

Their assassinations:

Shot in the head	Shot in the head
Shot on a Friday	Shot on a Friday
Shot seated beside his wife	Shot seated beside his wife
Shot in Ford’s Theater	Shot in a Ford automobile – a Lincoln
Lincoln sat in box number 7 at Ford's Theater	Kennedy sat in car number 7 in the motorcade.
Initially attended by Dr Charles Leale	Initially attended by Dr Charles Crenshaw
Died in a place with the initials "P.H." (Petersen House)	Died in a place with the initials "P.H." (Parkland Hospital)
Funeral train travelled from Washington DC to New York	Funeral train travelled from Washington DC to New York

But the coincidences don’t stop with them – there’s their successors:

Succeeded by Vice President	Succeeded by Vice President
Successor was a Southern Democrat	Successor was a Southern Democrat
Successor was named Johnson (Andrew)	Successor was named Johnson (Lyndon)
Successor was born in 1808	Successor was born in 1908
Successor’s name has 13 letters	Successor’s name has 13 letters
Successor died 10 years after his death	Successor died 10 years after his death

And – perhaps more importantly – their assassins:

Assassin’s name has 15 letters	Assassin’s name has 15 letters
Assassin known by 3 names	Assassin known by 3 names
Assassin was a Southern white male	Assassin was a Southern white male
Assassin was born in the late 1830s	Assassin was born in the late 1830s
Assassin was in their mid-20s	Assassin was in their mid-20s
Assassin was 5'8" in height	Assassin was 5'8" in height
Assassin had hazel eyes and brown hair	Assassin had hazel eyes and brown hair
After shooting Lincoln, Booth ran from a theatre to a warehouse	After shooting Kennedy, Oswald ran from a warehouse to a theatre.
Assassin was killed before being tried	Assassin was killed before being tried
Assassin died in the same month as his victim	Assassin died in the same month as his victim
Assassin died in a state adjacent to the state of his birth.	Assassin died in a state adjacent to the state of his birth.

There’s also their predecessors:

Predecessor was the last president to be born in his century	Predecessor was the last president to be born in his century
Predecessor left office in their seventies and retired to Pennsylvania (to Lancaster Township)	Predecessor left office in their seventies and retired to Pennsylvania (to Gettysburg)
Predecessor died before the end of the decade.	Predecessor died before the end of the decade.

And their bodyguards:

Bodyguard named William H Crook	Bodyguard named William Greer
Bodyguard died aged 75	Bodyguard died aged 75

So, while I am prepared to admit it could all be coincidence, that’s a LOT of coincidences.