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New trove of Kennedy assassination files made public / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES/AFP
New trove of Kennedy assassination files made public
A new trove of files related to the November 1963 assassination of US president John F. Kennedy was released Thursday, but the White House held some documents back, citing national security concerns.
The National Archives said a total of 12,879 documents had been made public in the latest release.
It said that 97 percent of the records, which total approximately five million pages, held by the archives have now been released.
President Joe Biden said in a memorandum that a "limited" number of documents would continue to be held back at the request of unspecified "agencies."
Previous requests to withhold documents have come from the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Temporary continued postponement of public disclosure of such information is necessary to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations," Biden said.
The Warren Commission which investigated the shooting of the charismatic 46-year-old president determined that it was carried out by a former Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.
That formal conclusion has done little, however, to quell speculation that a more sinister plot was behind the murder of the 35th president of the United States.
Kennedy scholars have said the documents still held by the archives are unlikely to contain any bombshell revelations or put to rest the rampant conspiracy theories about the assassination.
Oswald defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 but returned to the United States in 1962.
He was shot to death two days after killing Kennedy by a nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, as he was being transferred from the city jail.
A significant number of the files released on Thursday related to Oswald, his international travel and contacts in the weeks, months and years ahead of the Kennedy assassination.
Hundreds of books and movies such as the 1991 Oliver Stone film "JFK" have fueled the conspiracy industry, pointing the finger at Cold War rivals the Soviet Union or Cuba, the Mafia and even Kennedy's vice president, Lyndon Johnson.
The release of the documents is in compliance with an October 26, 1992 act of Congress which required that the assassination records held in the National Archives be released in full and unredacted 25 years later.
Thousands of Kennedy assassination-related documents from the National Archives were also released while Donald Trump was in office, but the former president also held some back on national security grounds.
L. de Freitas--JDB
