The assassinations of United States presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are well known events in American history. Though their terms in office were abruptly ended almost one hundred years apart, there are several similarities that can be recognized between the two assassinations.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. He tried to begin his career in politics by running for Illinois legislature in 1832. He lost this race but in 1834 won a seat in the Lower House and served his position until 1841. Lincoln was a member of the House of Representatives from 1847 until 1849, and in 1956 he joined the Republican Party (Christina, n.d.).
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in Massachusetts. He began his career in politics when he was elected to the House of Representatives as a democrat in 1946 and held his position until 1952 when he was elected to serve on the U.S.
English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...
Lithograph of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln...
English: John Wilkes Booth.Senate (Christina, n.d.) Lincoln and Kennedy's long political prominence eventually led them both to the considerably highest honor offered to United States politician. Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States of America in 1860 and Kennedy received the same honor in 1960 ("On Lincoln," n.d.) Abraham Lincoln's presidency was cut short when a group of Southern sympathizers found it necessary to take revenge for the actions that Lincoln led against the Confederacy. John Wilkes Booth and his organized group of co-conspirators planned to kidnap the president, but after hearing Lincoln's speech that suggested providing suffrage for African Americans they came to the conclusion that assassination would be a more appropriate form of punishment (Norton, 1998). While gathering his mail at the Ford theater, Booth, having been a prominent actor in several plays, discovered that Lincoln was to attend a...