I’m Mr. Beat, have a history teacher explain this if they can.
A shout out to my sister Renee.
Years ago, she got me this plate (talk about plate)
I’m sure you’ve ran into a similar list of coincidences.
They’ve been shared on social media many times over the years.
Like this version, which circulated on Facebook a few years ago.
Woah, 14,000 likes and 48,000 shares?
These lists have been circulating since not that long after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
In August 1964, a version of the list apparently first appeared in the GOP Congressional Committee
Newsletter.
After that, Time magazine called the list a “compendium of curious coincidences,”
and the list has been in circulation in some form or another ever since.
In 1966, a musician named Buddy Starcher released a hit song about the similarities called “History
Repeats Itself.”
(clip) Um, yeah, as cringy as the song is, for some reason it really was a hit, reaching
#39 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Heck, there’s even a dude who wrote an entire book comparing their assassinations.
Plus, there are entire websites today dedicated to the similarities between the two, with
hundreds of similarities listed.
But let’s fact check these suckers.
Is all of this really true?
Let’s go through them one by one.
Ok, well….we’re not going to go over ALL of them one by one.
Like I said there are hundreds.
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Anyway, I’m a history teacher and I’m going to explain this if I can.
Here are the 30 most common Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences I’ve encountered over the years.
Both Lincoln and JFK were second-born children.
This is true, and yeah a cool little coincidence.
Both suffered from genetic diseases.
While true, this one is a less impressive coincidence to me.
Both had drooping eyelids.
Yeah, also true but apparently this is fairly common.
Both were first elected to Congress in years ending in ‘46.
Illinois residents elected Lincoln in 1846, and Massachusetts residents elected Kennedy
in 1946.
Yes, that’s true.
Both presidents were runners-up for the party's nomination for vice-president in years ending
'56.
This is also true, and another tubular coincidence.
Lincoln in 1856, and JFK in 1956.
Both were elected to the Presidency in years ending in ‘60.
Lincoln won the Presidency in 1860, and JFK in 1960.
Yes, this was true as well, but less impressive since Presidential election years happen only
once every four years.
Both had the legality of their presidential elections contested.
Ok, this is very misleading, since you could say this about most elections in American
history.
Both married women in their 20s while themselves in their 30s.
Ok, well, I think that’s a pretty broad statement, but yeah it was also true.
Lincoln was 33 when he married the 23-year-old Mary Todd, and Kennedy was 36 when he married
the 24-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier.
It’d be more impressive if they were the exact same ages.
Lincoln and Kennedy each have seven letters.
Yeah.
True.
Kind of cool.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
I mean, yes, but this one is also misleading.
Lincoln and JFK’s involvement with civil rights had more to do with the cultural and
societal changes during their presidencies than themselves as individuals.
That said, Lincoln felt strongly about freeing the slaves, famously issuing the Emancipation
Proclamation during the American Civil War, as well as relentlessly pushing for the passage
of the 13th Amendment before his death.
Kennedy was also the first President to propose what would end up being the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.
Both lost a son while living in the White House.
This is true.
Lincoln lost his 11-year old son, Willie, while President, and Kennedy lost his infant
son, Patrick while President.
As you probably know if you’ve seen my All the Presidents’ Children video, it was much
more common for kids to die back in the 1800s, but much less so by the 1960s.
The age difference also does make this coincidence less impressive.
Both those sons who died had 21 letters in their names, each having 7 letters in the
first, middle, and last name.
William Wallace Lincoln and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.
Ok, another truly weird coincidence, for sure.
Lincoln’s secretary, Kennedy, warned him not to go to Ford’s Theatre.
Kennedy’s secretary, Lincoln, warned him not to go to Dallas.
Uh, no.
This one is false.
JFK did have a secretary named Evelyn Lincoln, but we don’t know if she warned him about
going to Dallas.
Also, Lincoln did NOT have a secretary named Kennedy.
His White House secretaries were named John G. Nicolay and John Hay.
Another point to make here is that it’s probably a safe assumption that most Presidents
are warned not to go places at certain points because Presidents often get assassination
threats, ok?
Both assassins, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, were known by their three names,
And their names were composed of fifteen letters.
True and true.
Even cooler.
Booth and Oswald were born in a year ending in '39.
Well this isn’t true.
John Wilkes Booth was born on May 10, 1838.
Lee Harvey Oswald was born on October 18, 1939, however.
Booth and Oswald were both Southerners.
Not true either.
Booth was a Southern sympathizer, but he was born in Maryland, a Union state.
Oswald was born in New Orleans, but also lived in Texas and New York during his childhood.
A month before Lincoln was assassinated he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A month before Kennedy was assassinated he was with Marilyn Monroe.
Uh, no.
Marilyn Monroe actually died over a year before Kennedy’s assassination.
Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
Here’s another misleading one.
It depends on how you define the word “warehouse.”
Oswald did shoot Kennedy from a textbook warehouse and was later arrested in a movie theater.
Booth did shoot Lincoln in Ford’s Theater, but he was caught in something that was more
like a barn, not a warehouse.
So that one is quite a stretch.
Booth and Oswald were killed before their trials.
I mean, yeah, but this isn’t as impressive to me.
Plus, Oswald seemed to be deliberately killed by Jack Ruby, whereas Booth was killed in
an apparent gunfight after he refused to surrender.
Both Lincoln and JFK died at nearby locations from where they were shot.
Yeah, but so what?
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Yeah, but so?
The chances that these assassinations occurred on the same day of the week are 1 in 7, after
all.
Both were shot in the head.
Also yeah but so, since the head is one of the most vulnerable parts of the body.
The list also never mentions that both presidents were shot at quite different distances.
Lincoln close by, and Kennedy from hundreds of yards away.
Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre.
Kennedy was shot in a car made by Ford Motor Company, which was a Lincoln limousine.
Yeah, that’s a pretty neat coincidence actually.
Both were shot sitting right next to their wives.
Yeah, that’s a freaky one to me.
Both successors were Southern Democrats.
This is true, but it’s worth pointing out that since both Lincoln and JFK were Northern
Presidents, it made sense for them to pick Southerners as running mates in order to help
their chances of getting elected.
Both successors had the last name of Johnson.
Yes, but Johnson is the second most popular surname in the United States.
Both Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson were born in a year ending in '08.
This is also true.
Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, and Lyndon Johnson was born August 27, 1908.
Ok, I think that’s an impressive coincidence.
Both Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson had first names that contained six letters.
Mostly due to all the other letter coincidences I mentioned earlier, this is also a neat coincidence.
Both Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson previously served in the U.S. Senate.
It’s true, but not impressive since it’s not surprising to see a U.S. Senator elevated
to the executive branch.
In conclusion, of the 30 total supposed coincidences I looked at, 23 of them were true, 3 of them
were misleading, and 4 of them were just straight up factually incorrect.
However, if I want to go a step further, of all the coincidences that were actually true,
I found only about 12 that impressive.
The other 11 were like meh.
You know, like the one about civil rights or both have genetic diseases.
Here’s the thing, though.
You can find similar patterns between almost any two people.
See, let me do the same thing with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, two of the most ruthless
and destructive dictators in human history.
Both grew up in poverty.
Both had religious parents.
Both were drawn to radical political movements.
Both were sent to prison for their involvement in these radical political movements.
Both were unlikely national leaders, rising during chaotic times in their countries.
Both rejected democracy.
Both promoted modernization.
I could go on and on forever, baby.
(Home Alone 2 clip)
Look, humans love to seek out patterns.
It helps us make sense out of the world.
Finding patterns in the tragic, untimely deaths of two beloved Presidents, has helped us try
to put some sort of cosmic order out of the chaos that led to their deaths.
Are there more coincidences between Lincoln and JFK than coincidences between other Presidents
or even other world leaders?
Actually, probably yeah.
Have a history teacher explain that if they can.
Well actually, no...I can’t explain that.
I don't know if ANYONE can explain those coincidences.
Those coincidences are actually pretty freaking cool.
However, as cool as they are, we should remember that generally, coincidences are everywhere
if you look hard enough.
So how impressed are YOU at these Lincoln and Kennedy coincidences?
Are they overblown?
Let me know in those comments below.
Also, did you know that I am now on Cameo?
That’s right.
If you want me to wish someone a Happy Birthday, or a Happy Unbirthday, or a Happy Winston
Churchill Day, which just so happens to be today, the day I am releasing this, hit me
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Thanks for watching.