Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend

The following are the list of "coincidences" that are commonly associated with the conspiracy, some of which are not true statements:

• "Lincoln" and "Kennedy" each have 7 letters.[5]
• Both presidents were elected to Congress in '46 and later to the presidency in '60.[5]
• Both married women in their 20s while themselves in their 30s.[6]
• Both lost a son while living in the White House.[5]
• Both were shot in the presence of their wives.
• Both assassins, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, were born in '39 and were known by their three names, composed of fifteen letters.[5]
• Booth ran from Ford's Theatre and was caught in a warehouse; Oswald ran from the Dealey Plaza warehouse and was caught in a theater.[5]
• Both presidents were runners-up for the party's nomination for vice-president in '56.
• Both successors were Southern Democrats surnamed Johnson;[5] both were born in '08 and their first names contained six letters.
• The assassins were both Southerners.[5]
• Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.[5] and made their views strongly known in '63. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, which became law a year later. A century later, Kennedy presented his reports to Congress on Civil Rights, during the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that same year.
• Both presidents were shot in the head on a Friday and died at nearby locations (Lincoln at the Petersen House across the street and Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital down the road).
• Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre. Kennedy was shot in a Ford car: a Lincoln limousine.
• Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told him not to go to Ford's Theatre. Kennedy had a secretary named Evelyn Lincoln (whose husband Harold's nickname was Abe), and she warned him not to go to Dallas.[5]
• Both Oswald and Booth were assassinated before they could be put on trial.[5]

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.[5] 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.[5] However, Lincoln's footman, William H. Crook did advise Lincoln not to go that night to Ford's Theatre.[59][60] 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.

Buddy Starcher 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,[61] and reached number two on the Country chart. Cab Calloway also scored a minor chart hit with the song that same year.

• Birthday problem
• Data dredging
• Kennedy curse

• "Linkin' Kennedy" article at Snopes.com