WASHINGTON – POLITICS – The assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963 marked a major turning point in history. Following the gunshots that killed the President and wounded Texas Governor John Connelly, many of the people in Deally Plaza believed the fatal shot came from the front of the President from what has come to be called the Grassy Knoll.
The death of the President was investigated by the Warren Commission, which produced a twenty-six volume report on the assassination.
Despite the efforts of the Warren Commission, millions of people believe that President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy. The death of the President has produced countless hours of analysis, many many books, and many videos and movies.
Today, the National Archives in the United States has released thousands of documents on the assassination.
President Orders Release of All Remaining Section 5 Records and
More Precise Review for Remaining Redactions within Six Months
The National Archives today released 2,891 records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that are subject to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Act). These records are available for download online.
The President has also ordered that all remaining records governed by section 5 of the JFK Act be released, and thus additional records will be released subject to redactions recommended by the executive offices and agencies. NARA will process these records for release as soon as possible on a rolling basis.
Based on requests from executive offices and agencies the President has allowed the temporary withholding of certain information that would harm national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs. The President also ordered agencies to re-review their proposed redactions and only redact information in the rarest of circumstances where its withholding “is made necessary by an identifiable harm to military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.” These instructions will allow the National Archives to release as much information as possible by the end of the temporary certification period on April 26, 2018.
The National Archives previously released 3,810 related records on July 24, 2017, including 441 records previously withheld in their entirety and 3,369 records previously withheld in part. More information about this release is available online.
In addition, the National Archives is also releasing to the public the unclassified electronic records of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), including 52,387 emails and 16,627 files from the ARRB drives.
The National Archives established the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection in November 1992, and it consists of approximately five million pages of records. The vast majority of the collection has been publicly available without any restrictions since the late 1990s.
Online Resources:
JFK Assassination Records Processing Project — Background and FAQs
Documenting the Death of a President
JFK Assassination Records Review Board
The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection
The work of the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection
JFK Assassination Records FAQs
Warren Commission Report
