Abraham Lincoln vs John F Kennedy Essay

Submitted By Kathrynamanda
Words: 494
Pages: 2

There are many strange coincidences between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in February 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. Much of his childhood was a struggle; his mother dying when he was just ten years old, and with his father being a frontiersman, money was scarce. Unlike John F. Kennedy who was born in May 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He lived a privileged childhood, coming from an extremely wealthy family. Though he grew up during the Great Depression he claimed the only experience he had of the crisis was that of which he read in textbooks. Later in life, both Lincoln and Kennedy were elected as president. Lincoln was elected to congress in 1846 where he played a part of the Illinois legislature for eight years, and for many years he also rode the circuit of courts. In 1860, Lincoln ran for president against Northern Democrat Douglas, Southern Democrat Breckinridge, and Constitutional Union candidate Bell. He defended the three, declaring him the sixteenth president of the United States of America. A hundred years later it was Kennedy’s turn. In 1946, after the war, Kennedy was elected into congress, where he served three terms in the House of Representatives. He represented the working-class Boston district, and earned the reputation of being a conservative Democrat. In 1960, he won the Democratic nomination for the 1960 presidential election. He ran against Republican Richard Nixon. Despite many concerns of his young age, and his Roman Catholic faith, he won the election, making him the 35th president of the United States. As presidents, both were particularly concerned with civil rights. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery from spreading to states in which it previously didn’t exist and give rights to African Americans. Kennedy’s political strategy was to delay submitting a civil rights bill until his second term. But African Americans were displeased by this