July 31, 2006
Coincidences Posted by John Steele Gordon at 11:20 AM EST One of the nice things about writing history instead of fiction is that while what a novelist writes has to be believable, what a historian writes only has to be true, however improbable. I confess to a great weakness for coincidences that are incredibly unlikely but nevertheless happened. Here are a few that I have collected.
1) Probably the most famous coincidence in American history is that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day. And it was not just any day but July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The cherry on top is that Adams and Jefferson were the only two signers of the Declaration to later become President. We will never know, of course, but I’ve always suspected that both Jefferson and Adams, old and rapidly failing though they were (Adams was 90, Jefferson 83) were aware of what day it was and perhaps at some level decided that it was a good day to die. President James Monroe also died on July 4, in 1831. So more than 8 percent of deceased American Presidents have died on the nation’s birthday, and three of the first five did.
2) The town of Codell in western Kansas had never been struck by a tornado until May 20, 1916, when one roared through town. A year later, again on May 20, the town was hit a second time. On May 20, 1918, it was struck for a third time. It has not been hit since.
3) In the 1940s two of the mightiest and most iconic of American industrial corporations were General Motors and General Electric. The president of GM from 1941 until 1953 was a man named Charles E. Wilson. The president of General Electric from 1940 to 1950 (except from 1942 until 1945, when he worked for the government) was a man named . . . Charles E. Wilson. They were unrelated and were known as Engine Charlie and Electric Charlie to keep them separate. (Runner up in this category, perhaps, is the fact that Chief Justice Earl Warren was succeeded in office by Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger.)
4) It is a very rare event for a meteorite to hit a building, for the fall of a meteorite is very uncommon and buildings occupy only a tiny percentage of the surface of the earth. Nonetheless, one weighing 350 grams (about three-quarters of a pound) struck a house in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on April 8th, 1971. Only 11 years later, on November 8, 1982, a second house in Wethersfield was also hit by a meteorite, this one weighing 2760 grams (about six pounds). Wethersfield is only 12.4 square miles in area.
I would be very happy indeed to have readers contribute more historical coincidences, preferably with citations. The more improbable (but true) the better.
|
