[1][2] In the 1970s, Martin Gardner examined the list in an article in Scientific American (later reprinted in his 1985 book, The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix), pointing out that several of the claimed coincidences were based on misinformation.
A 1999 examination by Snopes found that the listed "coincidences are easily explained as the simple product of mere chance.
One winner found a series of sixteen similar coincidences between Kennedy and former Mexican president Álvaro Obregón.
The psychological phenomenon of apophenia – defined as "the tendency to perceive order in random configurations" – has been proposed as a possible reason for the lists' enduring popularity.
[5] Buddy Starcher wrote a song, "History Repeats Itself," recounting many of these coincidences and parallels between the two presidents' careers and deaths.