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Unredacted Kennedy assassination files released, sparking debate

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Wed, 19 Mar 2025, 1:26pm
US President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Texas Governor John Connally ride in a motorcade from the Dallas airport into the city. Photo / Getty Images
US President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Texas Governor John Connally ride in a motorcade from the Dallas airport into the city. Photo / Getty Images

Unredacted Kennedy assassination files released, sparking debate

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Wed, 19 Mar 2025, 1:26pm

The perpetual hunt for clues about the 20th century鈥檚 most dissected political assassination 鈥 the shooting of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas 鈥 took a turn today with the release of files from the United States National Archives.

The dissemination of the records is the latest in a string of disclosures since the 1990s that have tweaked how America and its historians view Kennedy鈥檚 killing.

The vast majority of the National Archives鈥 six million pages of records related to the murder has already been declassified, according to the agency鈥檚 website.

Most of the online records are available on the website of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, named after a deceased Dallas legal secretary who became one of the earliest researchers into the assassination.

鈥淓very time they do this, people discover interesting things that fill out the story,鈥 said Rex Bradford, president of the foundation.

鈥淭he saga of the Kennedy assassination is one revelation after another revelation. It鈥檚 an unpeeling of history at the height of the Cold War and, for that reason alone, it鈥檚 interesting, even apart from the assassination.鈥

A White House spokesperson, in a recent interview with 九一星空无限Nation, promoted the pending disclosure, saying: 鈥淭he American people will have their hands on these documents, and there will be a story to tell鈥.

鈥淚 won鈥檛 preview you that story, but let me tell you: The American people are truly going to be shocked at what they see.鈥

Yesterday President Donald Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Centre that 鈥渁ll of the Kennedy files鈥 would be released today.

鈥淲e have a tremendous amount of paper. You鈥檝e got a lot of reading. I don鈥檛 believe we鈥檙e going to redact anything. I said, 鈥楯ust don鈥檛 redact. You can鈥檛 redact.鈥欌

Trump鈥檚 declaration, according to ABC 九一星空无限, set off a 鈥渟cramble鈥 within the Justice Department. Lawyers throughout the agency鈥檚 national security division 鈥渨ere up throughout the night, into the early morning hours鈥, scouring hundreds of pages of documents, ABC reported.

The full release of unredacted Kennedy assassination files has been something of a pet interest of Trump鈥檚, dating to his first administration and even earlier.

During his initial presidential campaign, he floated a conspiracy theory on Fox 九一星空无限 that Senator Ted Cruz鈥檚 father consorted with Lee Harvey Oswald at some point before the assassination.

His first year in the White House also coincided with the mandate of the 1992 Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act that all the files be released within 25 years or by October 2017. The law also allowed the President to withhold documents if he believes they will hurt national security.

Jefferson Morley, a leading Kennedy assassination historian, said that much of the new material has conflicted with the 1964 conclusion of the Warren Commission.

The seven-person body 鈥 led by Chief Justice Earl Warren 鈥 determined that Oswald, a former Marine and Marxist, acted as the lone gunman. It found no evidence that anyone helped him or that he acted as part of 鈥渁ny conspiracy, foreign or domestic鈥 to kill Kennedy.

But, according to Morley, newly released records over the years suggest another narrative.

Lee Harvey Oswald. Photo / Getty Images
Lee Harvey Oswald. Photo / Getty Images

鈥淭he lone gunman theory is not accurate. It doesn鈥檛 describe the facts of what happened,鈥 said Morley, vice-president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation.

鈥淭he doctors who tried to save Kennedy鈥檚 life say he was hit by gunfire from two different directions. So, what happened? We need a better explanation of what happened.鈥

According to a 2023 Washington Post essay by Morley, recent documents reveal how the CIA had been watching Oswald in the four years leading to the assassination.

They also show that key agency officials 鈥 director Allen Dulles and counter-intelligence chief James Angleton 鈥 worked to undermine the Warren Commission鈥檚 efforts to probe the shooting.

In an interview, Morley said today鈥檚 release should draw from more than 3500 documents 鈥 which amount to as many as 15,000 pages 鈥 that have already been technically released but remain partly or fully redacted.

A second batch of files at the National Archives, which recently came from the FBI, might also be released. That tranche constitutes about 2400 records and 14,000 pages.

Morley said he hopes that the release means he can finally read transcripts that have long been redacted. He is paying special attention to the closed-door testimonies of key CIA officials who spoke to congressional committees about their surveillance operations on Oswald in Mexico City before the assassination.

鈥淭his is a very hopeful moment,鈥 he said.

Philip Shenon, author of A Cruel and Shocking Act, a history of the Kennedy assassination, said he hopes to focus on what the documents will say about Oswald鈥檚 time in Mexico City.

The records, he said, have already revealed that Oswald visited the Mexican capital shortly before the killing. He met Cuban and Russian spies and even spoke openly about killing Kennedy with employees of the Cuban Embassy there 鈥 intelligence that the US government was gathering in real time, Shenon said.

Perhaps, Shenon said, newly unredacted files will show additional contacts between Oswald and others in Mexico who wanted Kennedy dead 鈥 and wanted to help him accomplish the deed.

鈥淭hat might not be the conspiracy that most people think of, but it could be a criminal conspiracy nonetheless if other people knew what Oswald was going to do or helped him,鈥 Shenon said.

If new evidence surfaces that the CIA or FBI knew more about what Oswald was plotting or even considering in Mexico, then, Shenon said, the public would be even more justified in asking: 鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 they raise alarms in Washington about the threat Oswald posed?鈥

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