Washington — The National Archives on Wednesday released thousands of previously classified documents related to assassination of President John F. Kennedy, nearly 60 years after he was fatally shot in Dallas, Texas.
In October, federal agencies asked President Biden to push back the release of certain documents that remained hidden from public view. Mr. Biden agreed, issuing an executive order delaying the release of about 14,000 records until December 15, 2022. However, he instructed the National Archives to disclose “any information currently withheld from public disclosure that agencies have not proposed for continued postponement” by December 15, 2021, prompting Wednesday’s release.
Mr. Biden’s executive order said the continued delay was “necessary to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations.”
The 1,491 documents released Wednesday include thousands of pages of never-before-seen investigative memos, notes and cables prepared by the CIA, FBI, State Department and Defense Department.
Kennedy was 46 years old and serving his first term as president when he was killed by an assassin’s bullet while riding in a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. A commission overseen by Chief Justice Earl Warren conducted a 10-month investigation and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, fatally shooting Kennedy from the Texas School Book Depository as his presidential motorcade passed on the street below.
Oswald was taken into police custody and was himself shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner. The Warren Commission likewise concluded that Ruby acted alone, but Oswald’s killing, and his time spent living in the Soviet Union, sparked years of rampant conspiracy theories and doubts about the Warren Commission’s conclusions.
In 1992, Congress passed the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, requiring all previously withheld documents about the assassination to be released by 2017. Former President Donald Trump allowed the release of some documents but delayed the disclosure of others at the request of the FBI and CIA, which said their release could jeopardize national security.
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