JFK Documents Released Amidst Continuing Cloud
Few events in American history have ginned up as many conspiracy theories, so the shroud is puzzling.
On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a procession in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was quickly identified as the assassin, though he himself was killed after being taken into custody. And there are few events in American history that have ginned up as many conspiracy theories — including Donald Trump’s outlandish charge during the GOP presidential primary that Raphael Cruz, Ted Cruz’s father, was involved.
Thus it was big news when, on Thursday, President Trump released 2,800 records on Kennedy’s assassination but delayed the release of thousands more, evidently under pressure from the CIA and FBI so as not to harm national security. The remaining documents will be reviewed over the next 180 days, after which there’s no guarantee they’ll see the light of day. The release was in compliance with a law signed in 1992 by George H.W. Bush.
The Washington Post reports, “Researchers had hoped the release would shed new light on Oswald’s movements and contacts in the months before he shot Kennedy. Historians were particularly eager for new details of Oswald’s six-day trip to Mexico City, where he met with Cubans and Soviets two months before the assassination. None of those documents appeared to be in the batch released Thursday.”
In fact, no documents released Thursday undermined the conclusion of the Warren Commission that Oswald acted alone, and yet a majority of Americans continue to believe there was a wider plot. Perhaps that’s because part of the unveiled material included this from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover: “The thing I am concerned about … is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin.” That was likely just an observation, but those inclined to disbelieve the government may always wonder if it was an imperative.
A president must make different decisions than a presidential candidate, and the CIA may be correct about not wanting to reveal assets or methods, even more than 50 years later. But we remain puzzled by the shroud of secrecy surrounding JFK’s assassination and think the whole country would benefit from more transparency.
