Released JFK Assassination Files: What Did We Learn?
By Cliff Albert
October 26, 2017
The deadline for the JFK Assassination Record Collections Act release was Thursday October 26, 2017. In a Twitter post released late in the day on Wednesday, the President Tweeted, “The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow. So Interesting!”
To read the highlights of what was released, click HERE
Thursday the White House released an update stating, "The U.S. government will delay the release of some files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The National Archives will release 2,800 documents Thursday evening. A 180-day review of redactions from objecting agencies, will determine whether the remaining documents are released at some point in the future," the Trump administration said.
A memo from President Donald Trump on Thursday evening said, "I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted. At the same time, executive departments and agencies have proposed to me that certain information should continue to be redacted because of national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns," he wrote. "I have no choice — today — but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our Nation's security."
The Act, established in 1992, mandated that all JFK assassination records be fully declassified. As a result, the National Archives and Records Administration is set to release 3,810 documents, including 441 formerly withheld-in-full documents and 3,369 documents formerly released with portions redacted. The files are from FBI and CIA and were identified by the Assassination Records Review Board as assassination records.
It’s estimated at 88% of the records pertaining to the assassination have been available to the public since the late 1990’s.
While one would hope that truth surrounding John F. Kennedy’s assassination will finally be brought to light, many believe that it will simply fuel a new generation of conspiracy theories, adding to the already long list that have surfaced over the past 54-years.
KOGO's Cliff Albert shares more about JFK conspiracy theories in the podcast below.
The release of the remaining classified files from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is expected to also release a swarm of old and new conspiracy theories.
Many of the conspiracy theories have been around since just hours after shots rang out from the Texas Book Depository on that November day in 1963.
And now with the release of the last of the JFK files, expect conspiracy theories to go wild.
You would think that releasing the remaining files on what happened would finally help to end the questions and settle the case once and for all.
But as President Trump flew to Dallas this week on the eve of the deadline day for deciding whether to release the JFK files, you didn’t have to Google very long before finding suggestions that the timing of his trip to Dallas this week was very suspicious. Maybe it wasn’t really about checking up on the hurricane recovery in Texas but maybe part of a government conspiracy to meet with some secret investigators about making sure some of the classified documents are altered before they are made public.
According to a report in Time, two university professors in a 2014 book called American Conspiracy Theories suggest that the nonsense of conspiracy theories result from people wanting the world to make more sense.
So when a national trauma happens like the JFK assassination, people can find it hard to accept the idea that a small cause can lead to such huge tragedy. They don’t want to believe that one man like a Lee Harvey Oswald could assassinate a president of the United States in broad daylight on a city street.
So stories are born of the CIA or the Mafia being responsible.
And the researchers say the more people who join the circle of believers; the less likely any one of them is to break away. And that’s why conspiracy theories lead to more. And that’s probably a conspiracy.
President Kennedy Assassination Documentation Timeline
November 22, 1963
President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while traveling in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas. Texas Govenor John Connally who was traveling in the same limousine with the President, first lady and his wife, was also shot and seriously wounded.
To this day, John F. Kennedy’s autopsy records are highly restricted and only accessible with permission from the Kennedy family or to members of a presidential or congressional commission.
November 29, 1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson established the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. The commission was led by Chief Justice Warren, a former governor of California, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1953.
September 24, 1963
The 888-page report was presented to President Johnson and released to the public 3 days later. The Warren Commission concluded that three bullets that killed Kennedy and injured Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald a rifle pointed out of a sixth-floor window in the Texas School Book Depository.
Late 1970’s
The Warren Commission’s “lone gunman” conclusion was disputed by eye witnesses to the attack and other’s whose research found conflicting details within the report. As a result, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) launched a new investigation into President Kennedy’s death. The HSCA concluded that a second gunman was likely involved in the assassination. This report along with the Warren Commission’s findings continue to be debated.
1992
The JFK Assassination Record Collections Act was established. It mandates that all JFK assassination records must be fully declassified by October 26, 2017.
October 26, 2017
The National Archives and Records Administration has declassified (make public) 2,810 documents, including 441 formerly withheld-in-full documents and 3,369 documents formerly released with portions redacted. The documents originate from FBI and CIA series identified by the Assassination Records Review Board as assassination records.
A 180-day review of redactions from objecting agencies, will determine whether the remaining 1,000 documents will be released at some point in the future.