Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy had more in common than is typically realized. They were elected in the same year… one hundred years apart, and their assassinations have some striking similarities.

   Some fun, easily dismissed commonalities are that the names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain seven letters, and both presidents were succeeded by a southern Johnson. Their successors (Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson) were born exactly one hundred years apart.

   These commonalities are harder to dismiss and raise serious questions among the skeptical. Lincoln was elected to congress in 1846, and JFK was elected exactly one hundred years later in 1946. Both politicians got the recognition during their terms in congress that is necessary to be elected president. Lincoln was elected in 1860 to become President of the United States, a polarized time in politics with the debate over the expansion of slavery and with the Civil War boiling. JFK was elected to the presidency in 1960, also a polarized time in America due to the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement progressing.

   Both of these politicians concerned themselves with the issue of civil rights in the U.S. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a plan to free slaves, and Kennedy actively supported the Civil Rights Movement, in which African Americans were fighting for equal treatment, both under the law, and in everyday life.

   The assassinations of these presidents are well-known but the correlation between the two is not. As we all know, both were shot in the head by southern men who were upset with how the president’s administrations were handling the issues at that time. In addition, Lincoln’s secretary (named Kennedy) warned him not to go to the theater that night; Kennedy’s secretary (named Lincoln) warned him not to go to Dallas. Both assassins were southerners and born exactly one hundred years apart. John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin, ran from a theater and was caught in a warehouse, and Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin, ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater. Yet another parallel between the assassins, they were both killed before their trials. Junior Nicole Sagris was mindblown when she heard of these comparisons, and said, “This is the epitome of ‘history repeats itself.’ It’s questionable… What if it has something to do with time travel? Or aliens? It’s too crazy to be just a coincidence.”

   These uncanny similarities are reminiscent of the saying “Once is chance, twice is coincidence, third time is a pattern.” There are more than just a couple of things in common between these two men, trying to bring about change in their country, and ended up being assassinated because of their ambition to do so.