Lincoln and Kennedy Similarities

Introduction

The analysis, comparison, and contrast of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy has extended considerable interest among historians of the United States. The importance and relevance of this topic is clearly seen in the fact that both of these presidents were born in different centuries and during different times, yet both of them have left immense impacts on their respective generations. In addition, both of them remained presidents of the United States for a short span of time; however, their ideals and leadership traits have governed presidential policies, and their names are being revered for generations.

This study thus seeks to compare these two leaders in a comprehensive manner. The first objective is to provide an introduction to both presidents. Second, it aims to highlight the major reasons for focusing on both Lincoln and Kennedy. The third objective is to highlight their time and circumstances during which they remained presidents of the United States. The last objective is to provide a brief outline about the characteristics of both of these great leaders of the United States. Another critical objective is also to differentiate and maintain a variety of points noted in the context of these two leaders of the United States.

The narrative of the American experience of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy is full of national crises and tragedies. Presidents from different centuries, in a diverse socioeconomic, political, and cultural context, lamentably have themselves become iconic figures now, whose historical and cultural legacies are eternally under academic comprehensive scrutiny for political scientists, historians, sociologists, social scientists, and reformers of national thought in America. It is a matter of fact, not mere fantastic assumption, that Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy had ideologies, policies, and advocacies, but what was common among them were the tragic deaths they non-intentionally embraced for the social and political uplift of America. Lincoln’s symmetries of life and character are prodigiously present on the psyche of Kennedy, who advanced the escalating racial problems in the sixties with sympathy and great constitutionality, and Kennedy’s assassination, in an extremely mysterious atmosphere, has quirky convicting evidential linkages with the complexities of presidential assassinations. As aforementioned, research on these two presidents has been significant and discussed by scholars in various dimensions, not specifically from the academic field of evaluation of history and politics. This introductory study shows four of the importance of this project: (i) introduction to the two presidents; (ii) justifications; (iii) the umbrella of their time; (iv) the characteristics of difference, not sameness.

Background and Historical Context

The 16th President of the United States may not be at all connected to the 35th one, especially because more than 100 years have passed between their presence in the political elite. However, the deep comparison of both politicians indicates similarities between them. Abraham Lincoln was elected to this post right before the Civil War, and despite this, he maintained a strong position in international politics. As for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a situation quite similar to Lincoln’s unfolded, because in the middle of the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear war was permanent and a new superpower developed regularly, Kennedy was introducing and implementing influential internal and external policies. The presented paper offers descriptions of the sociopolitical conditions that surrounded the presidents’ administrations in these two different times in the two nations’ histories, aiming to perform comparisons of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The analysis focuses on specific situations and phenomena of these two times, leading to some available conclusions.

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy made their presidential bids during times of great social unrest. The 19th century in the United States was a time of intense political, social, and economic upheaval, best manifested in the Civil War. There was also a great push to expand and settle the American frontier. Meanwhile, in the 20th century, the bygone Depression had forced the public to adopt the safety conservatism of Dwight Eisenhower. When Kennedy was up for the presidency, the Cold War had not slowed in the slightest, and American fears were freshened and reinforced by ongoing events on the Korean peninsula. Finally, like Lincoln, Kennedy led the nation during a significantly progressive time in terms of civil rights. Both leaders had to respond to political movements—abolitionism and the civil rights movement—which demanded the same guarantee of rights for African Americans as for white people. The years before the ascension of Lincoln to the presidency were characterized by political extremes of conservatism and radicalism. The same years preceding Kennedy’s presidency could be described as a political dichotomy of safety first and fear of the possibility of another depression.

Early Life and Education

The early lives of both Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are fascinating to compare because of how different they were. Lincoln was born into a family of very modest means and had to be homeschooled, whereas Kennedy was born into one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful families in America and was able to attend the Ivy League. Lincoln grew up on a farm and was used to hard work, while Kennedy would never want for anything a day in his life. As a result, the two grew to become very different. Lincoln cherished the principles of individual responsibility and reward and possessed a casual approach to government. Kennedy, in contrast, was intimately familiar with the ruling class and therefore shared the social outlook of a patrician, activists convinced of the necessity of government intervention in society.

Lincoln’s mother died when he was nine, and it was his older sister, Sarah, who encouraged him to read. Working as a farmhand since he was seven, he spent the rest of his time educating himself. Despite being a slow reader, he was devoted to his education and began to love reading. He eventually read every book in the area, including the Bible. In 1816, his father moved the family, which now included a stepmother Lincoln was fond of, west due to bad land titles. That spring, they relocated to Indiana. Kennedy, on the other hand, was very intelligent, went to the elite private school and graduated with honors. He attended Harvard and graduated from there, becoming the very first president to do so. As a youth, he spent a great deal of his time in the hospital and experienced many serious health issues. He was also beaten by one of his teachers, a young man who taught him for five years, overworking him and throwing chalk at him. His upbringing helped shape his policies and sympathies for others in ill conditions as president.

Political Careers and Achievements

As a congressman and U.S. president, Lincoln served during a time of national crisis, whereas Kennedy led the country from the campaign trail to the White House via the U.S. Senate. Lincoln is best remembered today for his wartime leadership when the Union and the future of America hung in the balance. His Emancipation Proclamation helped make abolition of slavery the main U.S. goal in the Civil War, and Lincoln’s administration saw the eventual victory of Union forces over the Confederacy. After being re-elected and serving just a month of his second term, Lincoln was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer. His assassination solidified his reputation and shone a positive light on his legacy. Kennedy was elected amid high hopes and buoyant anticipation for the future, and his administration undertook several initiatives that became synonymous with his term of office. From the Peace Corps to economic reform, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Space Race, Kennedy has become synonymous with the term “New Frontier.” Kennedy’s beginnings in the Senate may have also contributed to his legislative agenda. Because he came into office in the midst of the Cold War, he was also focused on addressing foreign policy and combating the communist threat. Party affiliation was likely a major factor in Kennedy's focus on social programs while in office. During his presidential career, the majority of the party at the time included southern Democrats who supported segregation. Many of Kennedy's ideas and programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, were focused on bringing about progress for members of American society who were not able to attain social and economic opportunities. These social and economic reforms, according to the Democratic Party, were concrete evidence that the government could effectively target its goals and achieve them. Lincoln’s leadership during the American Civil War and his resistance to the pro-slavery secession made his re-election as a Republican candidate possible. Through his Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln, although he was not an abolitionist, transformed U.S. politics and history.

Assassinations and Legacies

Lincoln was shot on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, in Washington, D.C., while watching a production of the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Southern sympathizer, entered the theatre box right next to Lincoln's and shot Lincoln once at close range in the back of the head before leaping out and escaping on his horse. Lincoln fell forward unconscious and died the next day. Kennedy was shot on the sunny afternoon of November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, while part of a motorcade driving through Dealey Plaza. From the Texas School Book Depository, Lee Harvey Oswald used a rifle to fire three shots at the motorcade, with the fatal shot hitting Kennedy in the back of the head. Like Lincoln, John F. Kennedy also had a bullet hit him in the back first.

Immediately after Lincoln's death, the entire nation fell into days of mourning as thousands lined the streets to watch his funeral train chug its way from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, at the same time with millions of telegrams crossing the country and world expressing sympathy. "The weary Lincoln had performed what Shakespeare called 'The sleep of death'; from now on, it would be up to the people to 'chant' their orator. The people wept, but they rose above their sorrow; to eyes 'with burning tears,' they sealed their forgiveness of the vanquished federals and let 'the Christ' reside forever in their 'inmost shrine.' Lincoln was still dead, of course, but it would be much too simplistic to say that the people's 'chant' or 'their poetry' had absolutely no effect on the material struggle between ex-slaves and ex-masters that was being waged across the defeated Confederacy. Deep in the hearts of many, 'the mourners' song' would still the voice of vengeance; it would blunt, in an incomplete way, the edge of punishment.

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