Where can you find the JFK files, and what is expected to be revealed in them?
On Thursday, the National Archives and Records Administration will be releasing 3,810 documents on the assassination of JFK, including hundreds that had previously been classified. The link to the full JFK files can be found below, and exactly what they contain will be seen when they are finally made public — though historians believe they have a good idea of what the major revelations might be.
The JFK files were long-scheduled for release after Congress mandated in 1992 that the documents be made public, though the president had the authority to block the release of certain documents, CNN noted. But in the weeks before the JFK files were set to be released, Donald Trump said publicly that he would not stand in the way of the release, and even took to Twitter to hype it up.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted about the release and appeared to build up some anticipation around it.
“The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow. So interesting!” he wrote.
What can you expect to find in the JFK files? Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, experts believe there will not be any bombshell revelations contained in the once-classified documents linking the shooting to any larger conspiracy. But as CNN noted, they could still contain some interesting information about assassin Lee Harvey Oswald’s trip to Mexico shortly before the shooting.
The JFK files are expected to focus heavily on investigations from the CIA and FBI into Oswald’s contact with spies from Cuba and the Soviet Union during his trip to Mexico City close to two months before John F. Kennedy was killed, Reuters noted.
At the same time, the JFK files are not expected to contain any information that quells long-held conspiracy theories that the assassination was carried out by the Mafia, the CIA, or Cuban interests, Reuters reported. Because Oswald was shot dead by Jack Ruby one day after Kennedy’s assassination, details about how and why he carried out the shooting never emerged, and many believe that Kennedy’s killing was a conspiracy that went far beyond Oswald acting as a lone gunman.
Link When JFK Files Released https://t.co/s9oI7b35bS
— Time (@sealeney) October 25, 2017
But that was the finding of the 1964 Warren Commission, which concluded that Oswald had acted alone. As the New York Post noted, another congressional probe in 1979 found no evidence to the theory that the CIA was somehow involved.
Those who want to read the full JFK files can find all 3,810 documents on the National Archives and Records Administration’s website .