Jefferson H. Davis wrote:
Getting shot definatly benefitted Lincoln historically speaking.....he became a martyr......It also benefitted Kennedy....Kennedy accomplished absolutely nothing, and yet just this morning I saw him credited with civil rights legislation that he did not get passed....Lyndon Johnson got those bills passed....Kenedy did not, however, since he is a martyr, he gets credit for what he had on his agenda, that the man after him accomplished.....Even the Cuban missle crisis which he supposedly did such a great job on turned out to be a big Soviet win.....They got exactly what they really wanted (Our short range missles near their border removed) in exchanged for not announcing that they got it.....Soviet victory all the way....
Yeah but we outlasted the Soviets in the end.
Patton was another who benefitted from a timely death. I guess history is full of those instances: Caesar, Joan of Arc, Davy Crockett to name a few. But Lincoln and Jackson, IMHO, deserved their credit.