History Repeats Itself

Glory, glory, hallelujah
His truth is marching on

This is a strange but true story
Which proves that history
Does repeat itself
And the events depicted here
Happened just one hundred years apart

Both President Lincoln
And President Kennedy
Were concerned with
The issue of civil rights
Lincoln was elected in 1860
Kennedy was elected in 1960
One hundred years apart
Both were shot from behind in the head
Their successors, both named Johnson
Were Southern Democrats
With seats in the Senate

Andrew Johnson was born in 1808
Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908
One hundred years apart
John Wilkes Booth
The man that shot Lincoln
Was born in 1839
Lee Harvey Oswald
The man that shot Kennedy
Was born in 1939
One hundred years apart

Booth and Oswald were Southerners
Favoring unpopular ideas
Booth and Oswald were both assassinated
Before going to trial
Both presidents' wives
Lost children through death
While in the White House
Both presidents were killed on a Friday
And in the presence of their wives

President Lincoln's secretary
Whose name was Kennedy
Advised him not to go to the theater
President Kennedy's secretary
Whose name was Lincoln
Advised him not to go to Dallas

John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln
In a theater and ran to a warehouse
Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy
From a warehouse and ran to a theater

The names Lincoln and Kennedy
Each contain seven letters
The names Andrew Johnson
And Lyndon Johnson each
Contain thirteen letters

The names John Wilkes Booth
And Lee Harvey Oswald
Each contain fifteen letters
And friends, it is true
History does repeat itself

His truth is marching on