Even inveterate skeptics sometimes admit that everything in this world is predetermined, because there are times when there are simply amazing coincidences. So, the life paths of the two most famous presidents in US history - Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy - are almost identical. Other leaders of the state, of course, are not left without attention, but it is these two persons who are most popular as individuals, politicians and victims of similar crimes.
Date match
The biography of Abraham Lincoln began on a Kentucky farm . It would seem that the sixteenth president of the United States has nothing to do with John Kennedy, a native of the US-Irish dynasty, many of whom were fairly well-known political and public figures. But if we compare the facts, it turns out that the fatal relationship between Lincoln and Kennedy exists.
Lincoln, a person among ordinary Americans associated with honesty and hard work, a native of the people, became president in 1860. Thanks to a split in the Democratic Party, he managed to occupy the most important post in the state. Interestingly, this was an unconditional victory, although his name was not listed on ballots in nine southern states.
John Kennedy sat in the president’s chair exactly one hundred years later - in 1960. Kennedy adopted the concept of “New Frontiers” as his course, during the debate he showed himself as an energetic and eloquent person, which was what the Americans remembered then. But the thirty-fifth president of the United States won by a slight margin.
Career
Prior to this, both Lincoln and Kennedy (coincidence again) were senators. Exactly a century between the election to the House of Representatives - this happened in 1847 and 1947, respectively.
Lincoln's main political rival was born in 1813. Stephen Douglas, a member of the Democratic Party, also participated in the elections in which the Republican won. Kennedy's rival in the 1960 election is Richard Nixon, who was born in 1913. Often they look for coincidences in the birth dates of the presidents themselves, but there is no mysticism here: Kennedy was born in 1917, Lincoln in 1809.
In addition, immediately after the start of the presidential term, a war was imposed on both leaders of the state from the outside. In the case of Lincoln, it was a civil war, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, and under John F. Kennedy, hostilities began in Vietnam. In fact, the war in Vietnam began much earlier, but the US military was transferred there in 1961.
Another interesting fact is that under Kennedy Robert McNamara served as Secretary of Defense, and Lincoln's first document after the inauguration was an appeal about the election of his friend John McNamara to the New Jersey legislature.
Slavery and African Americans
Both presidents were concerned about the rights of African Americans, although this issue has occupied Americans for a very long time and has not subsided to this day. One of the main tasks of Abraham Lincoln was the elimination of slavery. He came to the conclusion that the United States could be either completely slave-owning or completely free. The president has chosen the second path. John Kennedy sent a bill to Congress that prohibited racial discrimination in trade, services, and employment.
Secretaries
You can often find such a coincidence: Lincoln and Kennedy hired secretaries with the names of Kennedy and Lincoln, respectively. This is a false statement, although there is still some truth. The woman who was the secretary of John F. Kennedy really bore the name of Lincoln, but the secretary of Abraham Lincoln was called John Nicholas. There is a coincidence only in the name, and even that is controversial.
Monroe Question
It is known that John F. Kennedy had a secret relationship with the American actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, to which his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, had to turn a blind eye to preserve the dignity and honor of his spouse. Lincoln, shortly before his death, visited a place called Monroe in Maryland. True, there is again a controversial fact. There is no city with that name in Maryland, and Kennedy’s novel has not yet been confirmed, it’s just a rumor.
Presidential Families
Both Kennedy and Lincoln were the second children in the family. Kennedy's elder brother died during the war, and Lincoln had a sister, Sarah, who took care of him after the death of his mother and until his father's next marriage. Another coincidence - Lincoln and Kennedy received names in honor of their grandfathers. The sixteenth US political leader was named after his paternal grandfather, who was killed by the Indians, and the thirty-fifth - in honor of his mother’s father, a famous politician who had already said that the boy would become president.
Jacqueline Kennedy and Mary Todd Lincoln were already engaged to other men before they married their spouses. The bridegroom of the future wife of the sixteenth president was Stephen Douglas, his political opponent. And Jacqueline Kennedy was engaged to broker J. Husted. The first ladies came from aristocratic families, were free to speak French, and were quite wasteful. Both girls got married at the age of 24.
The sons of John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln were named Robert and Edward. Lincoln’s daughter-in-law was Mary Eunice, and Kennedy’s sister was Eunice Mary. The presidents had four children, but two of them died. Four-year-old Edward Lincoln died in 1850, and Kennedy's newborn daughter in 1956. The second child died already during the presidency. William Lincoln passed away at the age of 11, and in 1862, and in 1962, his just born son died at Kennedy. The two remaining presidential children survived the fathers.
There are other coincidences in the life path of the close people of the presidents. So, Robert Todd Lincoln was the American ambassador to the UK. Kennedy's father, Joseph Patrick, held the same position.
Lifestyle
Both Kennedy and Lincoln loved to sit in a rocking chair. The chair under both presidents was located in an office in the White House. Lincoln died while in a rocking chair, and Kennedy in a car, that is, both in motion. Presidents loved Shakespeare, knew how to tell jokes. Another friend and closest associate of Kennedy was Edlay Eving Stevenson, a Democratic politician from Illinois, and Lincoln - the grandfather of the previous one, whose name was exactly the same.
Health status
Lincoln had a congenital genetic disease. He suffered from Marfan syndrome, and according to another version - endocrine neoplasia. People suffering from Marfan syndrome often have elongated limbs and long fingers, pathologies of vision and heart and blood vessels. John F. Kennedy had Addison's disease - a rare pathology, as a result of which the adrenal glands cannot produce enough cortisol.
Circumstances of death
Are there any coincidences in the circumstances of the death of Kennedy and Lincoln? Both politicians were killed the day before the holiday, only John F. Kennedy - shortly before Thanksgiving, and Abraham Lincoln - before Easter, on Good Friday. On the day of the assassination, the presidential couple was accompanied by other married couples. Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln attended the theater with officer G. Rathbone and his fiancée, while the Kennedy couple rode into the Lincoln car with the Texas Governor and his wife. By the way, the accompanying men were injured, but not fatally.
Both heads of state did not die immediately after the assassination attempt, but after a while. Kennedy and Lincoln died in places whose names began with P and N. Lincoln passed away at the Peresons House, and Kennedy died at Parkland Hospital.
The killers
The assassination of US President Kennedy occurred on November 22, 1963 in Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald detained on suspicion of murder. He was shot dead two days before the trial by a resident of Dallas, who also later died in prison. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 at the Ford Theater. John Booth, the president’s killer, was involved in an anti-government plot. On Good Friday, he entered the presidential box at the theater and shot the president in the head.
The killers of the presidents had the same height - 172 cm. Both of them came from dysfunctional families and lost their fathers in childhood. The killers were killed before the trial. Criminals arrested by a police baker. True, here in the case of Booth we are talking about the first arrest (after he disappeared).
Johnson and Johnson
Vice presidents for both leaders were politicians named Johnson. One was called Andrew, and the other was Lyndon. Yes, only Johnson is the second most common surname in the USA after the Smiths. E. Johnson managed to sit in the chair of the Vice President at Lincoln for less than a year, and Hannibal Gamlin held the post most of the term. By the way, both Johnson were born with a difference of a century, suffered from urolithiasis (but no other vice president in American history suffered from this disease). There were certain external similarities between them, for example, snub nose and sleek strands.
Other facts
There are other coincidences in the biographies of Lincoln and Kennedy. For example, Lincoln's candidacy for the sixteenth president of America was supported by a minister named John F. Kennedy. According to the Chinese calendar, both presidents are Snakes. The funeral of John F. Kennedy was organized in the same way as the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. It was the desire of his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy.
Gardner List
The list of coincidences was first published by M. Gardner in one of the issues of the popular science magazine, as well as in his book. An American writer and amateur mathematician has debunked many myths about these two events. He presented to the general public a list of sixteen points, but there are longer lists, which are supplemented by facts to this day.
Criticism
Of course, there are real coincidences in the biographies (of Lincoln and Kennedy), but in many sources appear facts that are not true in reality. So, it is widely believed that assassins of presidents were born with a difference of a century. In fact, John Booth was born in 1838, and not in 1839.
The killers were southerners - this is mentioned on the Gardner list. But Oswald, born in New Orleans, spent most of his life in the North, and Booth was born in Maryland, which did not become part of the Confederation. And even if the Lincoln assassination occurred when the country was divided into two parts, Kennedy was not killed for political reasons (this was claimed by Lee Harvey Oswald himself).
Are these really mystical coincidences? Perhaps this is just an attempt to find similarities in the life stories of the two most popular American presidents who enjoyed popular love.