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The Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences
- Type
- Story
- By
- Urban legend (debunked)
- Source
- Wikipedia ↗
- Published
- 1964
Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were both elected in years ending in 60, succeeded by men named Johnson, and so on. The list feels uncanny — until you check each claim and find most are stretched, cherry-picked, or simply wrong.
Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were both elected in years ending in 60, both succeeded by men named Johnson, and so on through a long, uncanny list. The Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences have circulated for decades as evidence that something strange is going on.
They are now the textbook case for the opposite conclusion. Almost every item on the list collapses under scrutiny or is cherry-picked from a sea of non-matches, and the whole thing was assembled by collecting every possible parallel while ignoring everything that did not line up. It is apophenia, documented in public — which is precisely why it is taught.
The meaning
Even with the errors, some find the residual parallels too neat to be pure chance.
The skeptic
This is the textbook case: the list was built by collecting every possible match and ignoring the thousands of non-matches. It is apophenia, documented in public.
About the source
A famous list of parallels between the two assassinated presidents, now a standard lesson in how lists manufacture meaning.
Key takeaways
- A list of supposed parallels between Lincoln and Kennedy.
- Almost every item collapses under scrutiny or is cherry-picked.
- The standard demonstration of how coincidence lists manufacture meaning.