History is weird. Honestly, if you’ve ever spent a late night scrolling through "glitch in the matrix" threads, you’ve probably seen that famous list of coincidences between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. It’s the ultimate historical "what if."
People love patterns. We’re basically wired to find them, even when they’re not there. But with Lincoln and Kennedy, some of the stuff is genuinely eerie. You’ve got the 100-year gaps, the names, the tragedy. It’s like history found a template it really liked and decided to hit "copy-paste" a century later.
But here’s the thing: half of what you’ve read on those old chain emails is total nonsense.
The Real Links Between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy
Let’s start with the facts that actually check out. You don't need to make stuff up to make this story interesting. Both men were elected to Congress in a year ending in '46. Lincoln in 1846, Kennedy in 1946. Then, exactly 100 years later for both, they hit the big leagues. 1860 and 1960.
That’s a neat bit of math.
Then there are the successors. This is usually the part that makes people pause. Both were succeeded by Southern Democrats named Johnson. Andrew Johnson (born 1808) and Lyndon B. Johnson (born 1908). Again, that 100-year gap. It’s enough to make anyone a little bit superstitious.
The Friday Factor and the Theater Twist
Both presidents were shot on a Friday. Lincoln was sitting in Ford’s Theatre. Kennedy was riding in a Lincoln—which, as any car buff knows, is made by Ford.
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Is it a cosmic sign? Probably not. Ford was a massive company by the 1960s, and Lincoln was their luxury line. It’s more of a branding coincidence than a supernatural one.
The personal tragedies are the heavy part. Both men lost children while living in the White House.
- Lincoln lost his 11-year-old son, Willie, to typhoid fever in 1862.
- Kennedy lost his infant son, Patrick, just months before his own assassination in 1963.
That’s not a "spooky coincidence." It’s just heartbreaking. Being President is a high-pressure gig, but losing a child in that building is a level of grief most of us can't even imagine.
Debunking the "Secretaries" and Other Myths
Okay, let's clear the air. If you’ve heard that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told him not to go to the theater, you’ve been lied to. It’s a classic urban legend.
Historians like Edward Steers Jr. have combed through the records. Lincoln’s secretaries were John G. Nicolay and John Hay. No Kennedy in sight. On the flip side, JFK did have a secretary named Evelyn Lincoln. She famously told him not to go to Dallas.
So, it's half true. But history isn't a perfect mirror.
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The Assassin "Math" That Doesn't Quite Work
You’ll often see people claim John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald were born 100 years apart.
Close, but no cigar.
Oswald was born in 1939. Booth? 1838.
The "15 letters in their names" thing is true, though.
- John Wilkes Booth (15)
- Lee Harvey Oswald (15)
But think about it. Most people in the 19th and 20th centuries had three names. Finding two guys with 15 letters isn't exactly winning the lottery. It’s just... a thing that happened.
Why We Can't Stop Talking About It
Why does this specific comparison stay alive? We don't do this for James A. Garfield or William McKinley, and they were assassinated too.
It’s about the "Vibe."
Lincoln and Kennedy represent the two biggest turning points in American identity. Lincoln saw the country through its greatest internal collapse. Kennedy saw it through the peak of the Cold War and the start of the Space Age. Both were youngish, charismatic, and died right when it felt like they had more to do.
They are the "What If" presidents.
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The Apophenia Effect
Psychologists call this apophenia. It’s the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. When you’re looking at two of the most famous men in history, you’re going to find similarities if you look hard enough.
Think about the differences for a second.
Lincoln was born in a log cabin; Kennedy was born into one of the wealthiest families in America.
Lincoln was a Republican (back when that meant something very different); Kennedy was a quintessential Democrat.
Lincoln died in a bed; Kennedy died in a car.
If you list the differences, the list is thousands of pages long. But that’s not a fun article, is it?
What This Teaches Us About History
Looking at Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy side-by-side isn't just about trivia. It tells us how we process national trauma. When a leader is taken violently, we look for reasons. We look for patterns. We want to believe there’s some kind of logic to the universe, even if that logic is just "history rhymes."
It’s a way of making sense of the senseless.
Actionable Takeaways for History Buffs
If you want to actually understand these two beyond the "spooky" lists, here is what you should actually do:
- Read the Speeches: Forget the "7 letters in the name" thing. Read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural and JFK’s Inaugural Address. They both deal with the idea of sacrifice and national duty in ways that are eerily similar in spirit.
- Visit the Sites: If you’re ever in D.C., go to the Petersen House (where Lincoln died) and then look at the artifacts from the Kennedy era at the Smithsonian. Seeing the physical scale of their worlds makes the "coincidences" feel much more human and less like a ghost story.
- Check the Sources: Next time you see a "did you know" post on social media, check a site like Snopes or a library database. Most "historical facts" on the internet are just 1960s memes that never died.
- Study the Successors: To really see the impact of these men, look at what Andrew Johnson and LBJ did. The "Johnson" coincidence is fun, but the way they handled (or mishandled) their predecessors' legacies is where the real history is.