By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, more than 60,000 documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were made public following an order by President Donald Trump.
The newly released documents are fueling a decades-long fascination.
“It just, you know, will continue to fascinate people,” said Dr. Matthew Dallek, a historian and Professor of Political Management at The George Washington University.
Despite the new excitement, he says the majority of JFK files are already public.
“97%, I believe, of documents related to the assassination have already been released,” said Dallek, adding that Tuesday’s batch is like a speck of sand in a sea of records related to the assassination. “We’re talking, I think, millions, many millions.”
Combing through all the documents takes time. But so far, experts have not found anything that challenges the theory that lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, killed the President on his own.
“I don’t think there are any major revelations,” said Dallek.
Instead, the newly unredacted documents focus largely on intelligence gathering, including foreign trips made by Oswald in the years leading up to November 1963.
“The reason why they were kept secret was that it related to CIA operations and sources and methods,” said Dallek.
In February the FBI said it had discovered about 2,400 new records related to the assassination. President Donald Trump said Monday, the documents, about 80,000 pages, will be released.
“So that’s a big announcement. They’ve been waiting for that for decades. I said during the campaign I’d do it, and I am a man of my word,” said President Trump.
As more documents become available, Dr. Dallek says there’s one thing he’ll be searching for in particular.
“Whether the FBI and the CIA, other government agencies investigated the allegations of a plot,” said Dallek, adding that many theories have been fueled by skepticism over Lee Harvey Oswald being able to carry out the assassination on his own with a “poor shot” or sub-par shooting ability. “One reason the conspiracy theories have taken root is this notion that someone so inconsequential, as you said, a poor shot, clearly disturbed, could do something so consequential. And from such a distance as well,” Dallek added.
Regardless of what other sensitive information sees the light of day, Dallek says there will always be curiosity and conspiracies.
“There’s just going to be certain things that we will never know. And I think that has fueled speculation, fueled conspiracy theories,” said Dallek.
