Though I (jemanji) do not see this 'freaky phenomenon' as anything other than coincidence, it is entertaining when viewed as a 'karmic echo'. Did Lincoln leave unfinished business?
Beginning, purpose, and ending of careers: Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were:
Elected in 1860 and 1960 Catalysts for the two most important pieces of civil rights legislation (Emancipation Proclomation and eventual Civil Rights Act, 1963) Shot by enemies of the United States (Booth a Confederate sympathizer, Oswald a Marxist) First elected to Congress in 1846 and 1946, respectively Both were runners-up for the party's nomination for vice-president in '56 Both were shot in the head, on a Friday, in the presence of their wives Booth supposedly ran from a theater and was captured in a warehouse, while Oswald ran from a book warehouse and captured in a theater ... Both assassins were themselves assassinated -- by religious zealouts -- before they could go to trial, and both men had three names with 15 letters Both Presidents were succeeded as President by Southern Democrats named Johnson (Andrew and Lyndon) -- who each won a single re-election term -- and then declined to run for a second term Both Johnsons were born in -08 (1808 and 1908) and supposedly had kidney stones -- the only two Presidents to suffer from this malady'Echoes' in the Presidents' family lives include:
Both men waited until their middle 30's to marry Both men married socially prominent women who were 24-year-old brunettes who spoke fluent French and were famous for fashion sense Both Lincoln and Kennedy were 2nd children, named after their grandfathers Both had a son die while President Two of Lincoln's sons were named Robert and Edward (the names of the other two famous Kennedy brothers)Other 'echoes' include:
Both men were celebrated for being unusually well-read; both were especially interested in law, Shakespeare, and the Bible Both had congenital diseases - Kennedy with Addison's Disease, Lincoln supposedly with Marfan Syndrome Neither man was much interested in personal security, to the dismay of their Secret Service retinue Both men were involved in debates that were among the most famous of all time: Lincoln with Douglas, Kennedy with Nixon Both selected a Billy Graham as key advisers (Lincoln's friend an Illinois schoolteacher) Both joined the military and skippered boats (Lincoln the Talisman; Kennedy the PT 109)Among the most entertaining coincidences involve their successors as President; Andrew Johnson's career did indeed parallel Lyndon B. Johnson's, perhaps because of the nature of the career of an unelected precedent and because of the similarities between Lincoln's and Kennedy's preferences. Here is an excellent site that draws many parallels. Many other coincidences exist, most of a more-trivial variety, such as "Andrew and Lyndon both have six letters," "Lincoln and Kennedy both have seven letters," "both were with one other couple when assassinated, and the male acquaintance was injured but not killed," "both First Ladies renovated the White House," etc. . === Coincidence? === There are times when "synchronicity" can be measured statistically, but this is not one of them. For example, Lincoln's sons were named Robert and Edward, but we would have "included" this coincidence if it had been Lincoln's uncles -- or cousins, or grandchildren, etc. When calculating probability, we need a denominator in the fraction. Many of these coincidences can't even conceivably be assigned a denominator. The set of coincidences themselves can't be compared to a larger pool of possible coincidences. For example, we included their first elections to Congress -- but how about the time they got their first job? How many such non-coincidences occurred? We don't know. We do know that their careers were a nice even 100 years apart, so that many of their career milestones will track about (or exactly) 100 years apart. Snopes.com has a fine presentation of the type of reasoning that dismisses the pattern. ............... At the same time, the Lincoln-Kennedy parallels have an uncommon charm to them. Exactly 100 years later, the other major Civil Rights President emerges, has a fairly similar personality and set of life experiences, lives much the same kind of life and has the same death. A weird synchronicity in U.S. history. Cheers, jemanji ................. image: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99sep/images/9909lincoln.jpg
