I thought we should have a little fun this week in History so I am writing an article about the similarities of the Kennedy Administration and the Lincoln Administration. I am sure most, if not all, of you have heard things like Abraham Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy and that John F. Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln so I researched more of this and found some more interesting tidbits like the one I already mentioned.

Abraham Lincoln was elected into Congress in 1846 while John F. Kennedy was elected into Congress in 1946.

Lincoln was elected president in 1860 and Kennedy was elected president in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain seven letters and both presidents lost a child while living in the White House. William Lincoln died from typhoid fever and Patrick Kennedy died from complications of infant respiratory distress syndrome, or IRDS, as it is commonly known now.

As I had already mentioned, President Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln and President Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy.

Both men were shot with one bullet, in the head, on a Friday. Lincoln was shot in Ford Theater and Kennedy was shot in a Ford Lincoln automobile.

Both of the presidents’ successors were named Johnson. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor, was born in 1808 and Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s successor was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln was born in 1839 and Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy was born in 1939.

Booth ran from a theater and was caught in a warehouse and Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater. Both men were assassinated before their respective trials. I really don’t agree with this one too much and think it is a stretch as Booth was technically caught in a barn that was being used to store stuff so I think warehouse is a bit of a stretch, but, it is listed as a similarity so you be the judge on this one.

It is truly uncanny about the similarities between these two men. I had only heard about a couple of these and never realized there was so many coincidences between the two presidents. How many of these did you know about? Come in the History forum and tell us.