# Is this true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410 "2005-08-31T12:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![leandroc76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@leandroc76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leandroc76)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/1 "2005-08-31T12:45:56Z")
Something I got in my email, Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. Both wives lost their children while living in the White House. Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. Both Presidents were shot in the head. Now it gets really weird. Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy. Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln. Both were assassinated by Southerners. Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939. Both assassins were known by their three names. Both names are composed of fifteen letters. Now hang on to your seat. Lincoln was shot at the theater named ‘Ford.’ Kennedy was shot in a car called ’ Lincoln’ made by ‘Ford.’ Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse. Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater. Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials. And here’s the kicker… ## A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe. ## EOF I think this is made up, but I’m too lazy to find out… can you geniuses verify? ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/2 "2005-08-31T12:47:42Z")
Snopes has a whole page that discusses this topic: > **[Are These 'Coincidences' Linking Lincoln to Kennedy Real?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/linkin-kennedy/)** > > Numerous 'coincidences' between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations are not really so amazing. ---
**Author:** ![leandroc76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@leandroc76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leandroc76)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/3 "2005-08-31T12:52:48Z")
cool thanks. Although there is apparent skepticism many seem suprisingly true! ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/4 "2005-08-31T13:07:04Z")
One more bit of trivia: the seats in which Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy were shot are now in the same room (and have been for many years) – I visited that room recently, and I can verify that it’s true. (Of course, it’s a very large room, and among its other contents are at least one house, and one of the largest locomotives that I’ve ever seen). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/5 "2005-08-31T13:41:47Z")
> [@leandroc76](#): > > cool thanks. > > Although there is apparent skepticism many seem suprisingly true! Yes, it’s it both surprising and true, unfortunately, the bits that are surprising are not true and the bits that are true are not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/6 "2005-08-31T14:04:03Z")
About a year ago, I started a thread about the amazing coincidences of 2 assassinated US Presidents - _Garfield and McKinley_. (I was told that the “ **Skeptical Enquirer** ” had also done this years before I did). Basically, you are going to “find” a great many startling facts if you look long enough. By the way, since, Lincoln’s secreatary was someone named Kennedy, see if you can find _any_ website, book, etc that verifies this. That is one “fact” that is totally made up. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/7 "2005-08-31T14:07:28Z")
The punchline is screwed up. It should be “A week before Kennedy was shot, he was **IN** Marilyn Monroe.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/8 "2005-08-31T14:17:02Z")
Marilyn Monroe died August 5, 1962, so after going all that way for a cheap punchline, it was wrong by more than 15 months. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/9 "2005-08-31T14:26:06Z")
I first heard Richard Belzer do this joke. Anybody know if he was the originator? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/10 "2005-08-31T14:38:13Z")
Okay, I dug up my “amazing” coincidences about **Garfield** and **McKinley** : Garfield & McKinley - 8 letters each. Both were born in Ohio. Both were Republicans. Both died in mid-September. Both died just slightly over 6 months into their presidential term (in McKinley’s case, it was his second presidential term). Died in adjoining states (Garfield - New Jersey & McKinley - New York). Their successors were born in adjoining states (Chester Arthur - Vermont and Theodore Roosevelt - New York). Their successors (Arthur & Roosevelt) were both born in October. Their successors both died in the state of New York. Garfield and McKinley’s assassins were born in states bordering Lake Michigan (Charles Guiteau - Illinois and Leon Czolgosz - Michigan). Assassins were each tried and executed in less than a year of the shootings. Assassins both used a pistol at close range. If nothing else, compare this to the Kennedy-Lincoln list and it takes away from the “eerie” coincidences. For example: Lincoln was killed by a pistol at close range - Kennedy by a rfle from a great distance. Lincoln was a Republican - Kennedy was a Democrat. Lincoln was born in Kentucky - Kennedy was born in Massachusetts. Gee that Kennedy-Lincoln list seems to have lost some of its “magic” already hasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-true/319410/11 "2005-08-31T20:30:16Z")
I never heard of Lincoln having a secretary named Kennedy. John Hay is the name I’ve always heard.