DALLAS — Greater than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, conspiracy theories nonetheless swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate.
President-elect Donald Trump promised throughout his reelection marketing campaign that he would declassify the entire remaining authorities information surrounding the assassination if he returned to workplace. He made an analogous pledge throughout his first time period, however finally bended to appeals from the CIA and FBI to maintain some paperwork withheld.
At this level, only some thousand of the tens of millions of governmental information associated to the assassination have but to be absolutely launched, and those that have studied the information launched to date say that even when the remaining recordsdata are declassified, the general public shouldn’t anticipate any earth-shattering revelations.
“Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” stated Gerald Posner, creator of “Case Closed,” which concludes that murderer Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Friday’s 61st anniversary is predicted to be marked with a second of silence at 12:30 p.m. in Dealey Plaza, the place Kennedy’s motorcade was passing by means of when he was fatally shot. And all through this week there have been occasions marking the anniversary.
Nov. 22, 1963
When Air Pressure One carrying Kennedy and first girl Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas, they have been greeted by a transparent sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection marketing campaign on the horizon the subsequent yr, they’d gone to Texas on political fence-mending journey.
However because the motorcade was ending its parade route downtown, pictures rang out from the Texas College E book Depository constructing. Police arrested 24-year-old Oswald and, two days later, nightclub proprietor Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald throughout a jail switch.
A yr after the assassination, the Warren Fee, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to research the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no proof of a conspiracy. However that hasn’t quelled an internet of other theories over the a long time.
The gathering
Within the early Nineteen Nineties, the federal authorities mandated that each one assassination-related paperwork be housed in a single assortment within the Nationwide Archives and Data Administration. The gathering of over 5 million information was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president.
Trump, who took workplace for his first time period in 2017, had boasted that he’d enable the discharge of the entire remaining information however ended up holding some again due to what he referred to as the potential hurt to nationwide safety. And whereas recordsdata have continued to be launched throughout President Joe Biden’s administration, some nonetheless stay unseen.
The paperwork launched over the previous few years supply particulars on the way in which intelligence companies operated on the time, and embrace CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies throughout a visit to Mexico Metropolis simply weeks earlier than the assassination. The previous Marine had beforehand defected to the Soviet Union earlier than returning dwelling to Texas.
Mark S. Zaid, a nationwide safety lawyer in Washington, stated what’s been launched to date has contributed to the understanding of the time interval, giving “a great picture” of what was taking place through the Chilly Struggle and the actions of the CIA.
Withheld recordsdata
Posner estimates that there are nonetheless about 3,000 to 4,000 paperwork within the assortment that haven’t but been absolutely launched. Of these paperwork, some are nonetheless utterly redacted whereas others simply have small redactions, like somebody’s Social Safety quantity.
“If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner stated.
There are about 500 paperwork which were utterly withheld, Posner stated, and people embrace Oswald’s and Ruby’s tax returns. These recordsdata, the Nationwide Archives says on its web site, weren’t topic to the 2017 disclosure requirement.
Trump’s transition crew hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes workplace.
A continued fascination
From the beginning, there have been those that believed there needed to be extra to the story than simply Oswald performing alone, stated Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Ground Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the constructing the place Oswald made his sniper’s perch.
“People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime,” stated Fagin, who stated that whereas there are lingering questions, legislation enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” in opposition to Oswald.
Larry J. Sabato, director of the College of Virginia Heart for Politics, stated his curiosity within the assassination dates again to the occasion itself, when he was a baby.
“It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century,” Sabato stated. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”
