WASHINGTON, March 19: U.S. President Donald Trump released a significant batch of documents related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday, fulfilling his campaign promise to provide greater transparency on the historic event. The initial release consists of electronic copies of previously classified papers, which have been uploaded to the National Archives website. Over 80,000 documents are expected to be published after careful scrutiny by Justice Department lawyers.
The documents, which include PDFs of memos and other materials, offer insight into the climate of fear during the Cold War era, particularly in relation to the U.S.’s tense relations with the Soviet Union after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Many documents focus on Lee Harvey Oswald’s time in the Soviet Union and the investigation into his movements before Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963. An initial review of the papers did not uncover any new major revelations, reinforcing the existing narrative of Oswald acting as a lone gunman.
Some of the released documents include CIA-related investigations, such as an interview from 1964 concerning discrepancies in materials provided by the CIA and State Department to the Warren Commission. These documents reveal the U.S. government’s actions during the Cold War, including its covert operations in Latin America, particularly efforts to undermine Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. A notable document also describes “Operation Mongoose,” a CIA-led campaign authorized by Kennedy in 1961 to sabotage Castro’s government.
Despite the release of these documents, key figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, have expressed concerns. Kennedy Jr., a vocal critic, has previously suggested CIA involvement in his uncle’s assassination, although the agency has dismissed such claims. Schlossberg criticized the lack of prior notification to Kennedy’s family about the document release.
Historians and experts, including Fredrik Logevall, a Harvard history professor, have said that while the release is valuable for transparency, it is unlikely to produce dramatic new revelations that would alter the public’s understanding of JFK’s assassination. Alice L. George, a historian, echoed this sentiment, suggesting that even with additional records, the questions surrounding Kennedy’s murder may never be fully resolved, as many of the key figures involved are no longer alive.
Trump has also promised to release additional documents concerning the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy, both of whom were killed in 1968. However, Trump has allowed additional time to formulate a plan for those releases. Despite longstanding government assertions that Oswald acted alone, public skepticism remains, with many Americans still believing that a conspiracy was involved in the tragic event.
