Awesome Coincidence!

Dear Readers:

I received what follows in an e-letter forwarded to me by a friend. That letter concluded with a recommendation that each of its readers re-forward it to their own e-letter groups. I decided, however, to broaden my distribution of this remarkable centenary of coincidences, by publishing it in The Horn. To see more about this subject, amble over to Google and you will be amazed at the number of articles there that refer to these tragic events. But what truly puzzles me about this string of coincidences, is that nowhere among them did the usually ubiquitous Archangel Gabriel, make a single appearance.

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846

John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946

Lincoln was elected President in 1860

Kennedy was elected President in 1960

Both Presidents were shot in the head on a Friday
Both Presidents were shot adjacent to their wives

Lincoln’s Secretary was named Kennedy
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln

Both presidents were northerners
Both assassins were southerners
Both successors were Johnsons

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln was born in 1808
Lyndon Johnson who succeeded Kennedy was born in 1908

John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin was born in 1839
Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin was born in 1939

Both assassins were known by their three names
Both assassins’ names contain 15 letters

Lincoln was shot in a theater named Ford
Kennedy was shot in a car 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 was assassinated before his trial
Oswald was assassinated before his trial

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was (in) Monroe, Maryland
A week before Kennedy was shot he was (with) Marilyn, Monroe

U.S. Presidents Garfield and McKinley were also assassinated
but similar lists of coincidences have not yet been worked out

Although this awesome string of circumstances is startling beyond belief, to endeavor to postulate a mysterious significance to them would be pointless and foolhardy.

Comment: mailto:domgab1914@comcast.net