# what is the straight dope on those Kennedy-Lincoln similarities **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521 "2010-02-03T15:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blood63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@blood63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blood63)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/1 "2010-02-03T15:16:53Z")
I know I have read about this somewhere on the dope but I can’t find it now. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/2 "2010-02-03T15:25:26Z")
It’s 95% jive: [Are These 'Coincidences' Linking Lincoln to Kennedy Real? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/lincoln-kennedy.asp) ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/3 "2010-02-03T16:33:43Z")
Typical confirmation bias. I can sit here and come up with a million things they dont have in common. You can cherry pick information and make all sorts of connections between anything if you try. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/4 "2010-02-03T17:09:21Z")
I guarantee that, if you took ANY two Presidents and did a litle research, you could find a host of “eerie” coincidences. Barack Obama & James Polk, Chester A. Arthur and Bill Clinton, Martin Van Buren and Calvin Coolidge… seriously, ANY two Presidents will generate more similarities than you’ll know what to do with, if you dig enough. It’s just that nobody CARES if James Garfield has a huge amount in common with Ronald Reagan (they were both Republicans, they were both shot early in their first terms by lunatics…)! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/5 "2010-02-03T18:47:14Z")
It’s like looking in Nostradamus’ _Prophecies_ for things he said that accurately prediced the future. It’s easy (and often done) to take events that are now past and claim that what he wrote predicted them. What’s much harder (and has essentially never been done) is to use what he wrote to predict anything that has not yet happened. And when the list contains twaddle like this: A month before he was assassinated, Lincoln was in Monroe, Maryland A month before he was assassinated, Kennedy was in Marilyn Monroe you know it’s crap - and that the person who wrote it knows, too. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/6 "2010-02-03T18:52:09Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > And when the list contains twaddle like this: > A month before he was assassinated, Lincoln was in Monroe, Maryland > A month before he was assassinated, Kennedy was in Marilyn Monroe > you know it’s crap - and that the person who wrote it knows, too. Heh. She said twaddle. Seriously have you seen that on such a list? I would have to assume the author is making a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/7 "2010-02-03T19:06:41Z")
You can take any two people who have been alive for more than fourty years and find 30 similarities. And about a million differences. ---
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/8 "2010-02-03T19:08:09Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > you know it’s crap - and that the person who wrote it knows, too. That person would be Martin Gardner. He wanted to illustrate the fact that you could find coincidences in anything. Problem is, people started taking his list seriously. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/9 "2010-02-03T19:48:13Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > …Seriously have you seen that on such a list? I would have to assume the author is making a joke. Yes, my mom sent it to me a year or so ago. JFK had his faults, but he wasn’t into graverobbing and necrophilia. Many people just don’t realize that Monroe predeceased Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/10 "2010-02-03T19:54:47Z")
Aug. 5, 1963 Nov. 22, 1963 For some reason I know these dates by heart. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/11 "2010-02-03T23:00:02Z")
Aug. 5, [del]1963[/del] [1962](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe). Guess not. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/12 "2010-02-03T23:15:34Z")
[Twaddle](http://www.rijeka.com/phun/general/coincidence.htm) > [@](#): > > Lincoln was a Republican, Kennedy was a Demmocratt. Both parties have 10 letters in their names. > Both men left widows who eventually married Greek shipping magnates. > Mrs. Kennedy liked bananas; Mrs. Lincoln went bananas. > Both men feared nuclear war with the Soviet Union. > Both men had affairs with Marilyn Monroe. > Both men were played by William Devane in television movies. > Both men were “President” at the time they were shot; the word “President” has 9 letters. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/13 "2010-02-04T01:31:48Z")
In 1992, _Skeptical Inquirer_ magazine documented how many similarities can be found between random pairs of presidents. For example, both Nixon and Thomas Jefferson: [ul][li]had vice-presidents leave office under a cloud of scandal.[/li][li]served as vice-president before taking office.[/li][li]before becoming President, had lost a Presidential election to a Harvard graduate named John from a wealthy, prominent Massachusetts family.[/li][li]were elected to their first terms by a narrow margin and their second by a wide margin.[/li][li]were succeeded by Southerners named James.[/li]had last names ending in “-on”.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/14 "2010-02-04T02:52:28Z")
> [@luvtinayothers](#): > > That person would be Martin Gardner. That’s what I find comical. Gardner made the original list precisely to show how easy it was do and it took on a life of its own promulgated by people who believe the opposite. The Monroe, Maryland joke was not part of his original list, which, like a snowball, gets bigger as it rolls along. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/15 "2010-02-04T02:58:12Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > In 1992, _Skeptical Inquirer_ magazine documented how many similarities can be found between random pairs of presidents. > > For example, both Nixon and Thomas Jefferson: > […] were succeeded by Southerners named James. _BZZZT._ Nixon was _succeeded_ by Gerald Ford of Michigan. James Earl Carter of Georgia was the next prez _elected in his own right_. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/16 "2010-02-04T03:18:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, my mom sent it to me a year or so ago. JFK had his faults, but he wasn’t into graverobbing and necrophilia. . You never read The Parts left out of the Kennedy Book? I did and actually beleived it. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/17 "2010-02-04T03:36:51Z")
I think that we don’t want to admit it, but, the coincidences are really eerie, and that’s that. The Skeptical Inquirer is really punching these up; the Abe-JFK ones are natural. Let’s be real: The Kennedy-Lincoln secretary, v. the Lincoln-Kennedy secretary are in and of itself a bit strange, and adding the others on, well, it IS worthy of a double take. This doesn’t mean that you have to worship any god that you don’t want to, and it doesn’t mean that your whole life is going to be revolutionized, and it doesn’t mean that you have to vote for somebody that you don’t like. I think that, scientifically speaking, there will be Presidents of the US that will have to have real , and bizarre, perhaps even frightening, coincidences, and Lincoln and Kennedy fit the picture. Live with it. It don’t cost nothin’. hh ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/18 "2010-02-04T03:47:14Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Let’s be real: The Kennedy-Lincoln secretary, v. the Lincoln-Kennedy secretary are in and of itself a bit strange, Did you read the Snopes article? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/19 "2010-02-04T03:48:22Z")
The evolution of the “Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy” canard is briefly discussed [on this page.](http://home.comcast.net/~sharonday7/Presidents/AP070102.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521/20 "2010-02-04T06:36:26Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > The evolution of the “Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy” canard is briefly discussed [on this page.](http://home.comcast.net/%7Esharonday7/Presidents/AP070102.htm) “Canard?” Dem’s fightin words. 🙂 This thread needs a word for stupid meaningless nonfact. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-straight-dope-on-those-kennedy-lincoln-similarities/527521.md?page=2)