Joseph Biden, when running for President.
I can’t believe that I am the first to write this column, nor will I be the last. But, in the wake of Kamala Harris selecting Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota, to be her Vice Presidential running mate in 2024, I feel the echo of one of those pieces from yesteryear. You know the one I mean. Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is the folklore list of coincidences that were pointed out back in 1964 between JFK and Lincoln.
I wanted to include the factoid that Tim Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska, while the only President ever born in Iowa was born in West Branch, Iowa, but it didn’t fit very neatly. For me, Walz—while supposedly very likable and personable— was not as outstanding a candidate for VP as a former astronaut from a border state that is in play (and one whose wife survived a serious assassination attempt). But I defer to the greater wisdom of the candidate herself on who will be the best partner for her in this race. After all, she only had two weeks to vet all the candidates.
I had hoped for Mark Kelly, who is from a swing state, or someone younger, but the Dems don’t want to be seen as too liberal and have selected someone who used to be endorsed by the National Rifle Association (until he changed his opinion after several massacres involving automatic weapons). Apparently the chemistry, for Kamala Harris, was just best with Walz. I just pray she is not making the mistake that Hillary Clinton did in selecting a relatively unmemorable partner for her ill-fated run.
Others had been touting Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro until the GOP started calling him “Genocide Josh” based on some of his pronouncements about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Andy Beshears of Kentucky was hot for a while. The powers-that-be must think that the Midwest, with its many MAGA faithful, is going to be more important than Pennsylvania? DJT selected an Ohio native (J.D. Vance) possibly for that Midwestern reason.
I have been told that Kelly is not the most inspiring speaker, but…hey! He was an ASTRONAUT!!! My awe at that will date me, since the Cape Canaveral facility has been outsourced to the likes of Elon Musk and it’s kind of sad to visit it now after its days of glory during JFK and the moon landing. This, too, will mark me as someone who has been around for every President back to Truman.
Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota and Vice-Presidential candidate.
Among the following list of “coincidences,” some, according to Wikipedia, are not completely accurate statements:
- “Lincoln” and “Kennedy” each have seven letters.[5]
- Both presidents were elected to Congress in ’46 and later to the presidency in ’60.[5]
- Both assassins, John Wilkes Boothand Lee Harvey Oswald, were born in ’39 and were known by their three names, composed of fifteen letters.[5]
- Booth ran from a theater and was caught in a warehouse; Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.[5]
- The assassins were both Southerners.[5]
- Both of the presidents’ successors were Democrats named Johnson with six-letter first names and born in ’08.[5]
- Both Lincoln and Kennedy were particularly concerned with civil rights[5]and made their views strongly known.
- Both presidents were shot in the head on a Friday and in the presence of their wives.[5]
- Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told him not to go to Ford’s Theatre. Kennedy had a secretary
President Abraham Lincoln.
named Evelyn Lincoln who warned him not to go to Dallas.[5]
- Both Oswald and Booth were killed before they could be put on trial.[5]
- Both Lincoln and Kennedy were succeeded as President by Southerners named Johnson.
- Both Johnsons were succeeded as President in ’69 by Republicans (Ulysses S. Grant, Richard M. Nixon) whose mothers were both named Hannah. [
, You are either very young or you have been living under a rock since 1964 if you’ve never seen this list—some of which seem to be reaching and some of which are among those “things that make you go hmmmmm” that Arsenio Hall used to talk about when he had a late-night talk show (which also tells you how long I’ve been doing this.)
RFK, Jr. today.
I cannot come up with as lengthy a list of the coincidences between this year’s election and that of 1968, but here’s a start:
- In 1968 sitting President Lyndon Baines Johnson told the world in a television address that he was not going to run for re-election. Sitting President Joseph Biden told us that he was not going to run for re-election on July 21st, 2024.
- When LBJ announced his decision not to run on March 31, 1968, it was the day after my wedding. When Biden announced that he was not going to run in 2024, it was 2 days before my birthday on July 23rd’ [This virtually guarantees that I will remember each historic date, especially when playing the game where you are to make up something that occurred on a certain date and then be able to identify which of the submitted events from the game’s players actually happened on that date.]
- When LBJ stepped down, his Vice President was selected to run in his place. LBJ’s vice president at the time was Hubert Humphrey. (LBJ had no veep for the 2 years left in JFK’s term because that rule did not exist at that time; the position was simply left unfilled until the next election.) Hubert Humphrey was from Minnesota, just as Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for Vice President with Kamala Harris in 2024, is the two-time Governor of Minnesota.
- In 1968, the Democratic National Convention was being held in Chicago. In 2024, the Democratic National Convention is being held in Chicago. (August 19-22.)
- Robert F. Kennedy was running in 1968. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr,, is running in 2024.
- LBJ stepped down as the nominee largely because of the virulent anti-war sentiment against the Vietnam War. (“Hey, hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?”) Biden stepped down largely because of the intense criticism of the influx of illegal immigrants at the border with Mexico. Each man also faced unrest, violence and riots in large cities. (I remember being in Europe and seeing the headline, in French, “America on the Edge of the Abyss.”)
Lyndon Baines Johnson’s 1964 official portrait.
When LBJ stepped down, he ascribed part of the reason for his decision to his health. All the men in LBJ’s family had heart issues. LBJ secretly commissioned an actuarial study of his life span in 1967; it accurately predicted that he would die at 64.. Johnson had already had a near-fatal heart attack in 1955. Johnson retired to his Texas ranch and died in 1973, 5 years later, aged 64, in somewhat of a self-destructive spiral where he resumed smoking and refused to follow dietary restrictions. Biden’s health at age 81 was a constant source of fodder for the GOP during the run-up to July 21st. Joe’s frail appearance and inability to perform well during an early Trump/Biden debate that his own camp had sought sealed his fate. Democratic party faithful urged Biden to fall on his sword for the good of the party. Biden also had brain bleeds (aneurysms) and surgery in the eighties. At 81, the Republicans cast him as senile, often exaggerating the verbal gaffes for which he had always been known. (Remember the plagiarism scandal of his run for office in 1988, when Biden was accused of ripping off a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock? Although Biden had attributed it properly several times before August of 1988, his failure to do so at one campaign stop was capitalized on. The scandal—unlike today’s “anything goes from the podium” Trumpisms—caused Biden to withdraw from the race.)
- Johnson initially sought to run for re-election. Following disappointing results in the New Hampshire primary, LBJ packed it in, keeping nearly everyone except his closest family members and two close advisors in the dark about his decision. (LBJ secretly hoped that the convention might draft him, anyway, until the very end.) Biden initially sought to run for re-election and agreed to a disastrous early debate against Trump where Biden performed poorly, causing the party to urge him to reconsider his 2024 run. His decision to withdraw was slow; some felt it would not happen at all.
- Both LBJ and Biden served as Vice President before becoming President.
- LBJ was the 36th President of the United States. Biden was the 46th President.
- Both LBJ and Biden had lengthy careers in government and were experts at shepherding legislation through Congress. In 2024, Biden is the 19th longest-serving legislator in history. (1972-2024). LBJ also had a lengthy run beginning in 1931 and continuing until 1968.
- Both LBJ and Biden had wives who were very active and involved First Ladies, in the mold of Eleanor Roosevelt. Lady Bird Johnson was very active in helping promote LBJ’s legislative aims (and her own) and Jill Biden was considered, like Lady Bird, to be Joe’s closest advisor and helpmate. [The contrast with Melania Trump’s First Lady style is great.]
- From 1991 to 2008, as an adjunct professor, Biden co-taught a seminar on constitutional law at Widener University School of Law.[70][71] He sometimes flew back from overseas to teach the class. (Tim Walz, this year’s VP Democratic pick, was also a teacher for many years) Lyndon Baines Johnson taught school from 1928 to 1929, pausing his studies to teach Mexican–American children at the segregated Welhausen School in Cotulla, 90 miles south of San Antonio.
- Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall the first Black Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female Supreme Court Justice in February of 2022.
- Both LBJ and Biden came from humble families, not from wealth.
- Both LBJ and Biden will go down as great promoters of civil rights and as Presidents who accomplished the most significant legislation during their time(s) in office of any President of either party over the past 100 years.
- Both will be viewed much more positively after stepping down than they were viewed when in office.