The National Archives released more than 13,000 documents related to the assassination of President John F Kennedy on Thursday, a move prompted by President Biden, who ordered thousands of other records kept under seal until at least the middle of next year. The documents were not expected to provide any major revelations, but there are plenty of interesting insights for historians to pore over.
Some of the more revealing details relate to Lee Harvey Oswald – a US Marine veteran who allegedly killed Kennedy, a conclusion reached by the commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Mr Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in his motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963. He was aged 46.
JFK’s death spawned decades of conspiracy theories. One that has gained particular currency is that Jack Ruby – Oswald’s killer – was part of a larger conspiracy concerning Kennedy’s assassination.
But a newly released September 1964 memo to the presidential commission investigating the assassination said “the Central Intelligence Agency has no indication that Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald ever knew each other, were associated or might have been connected in any manner”.
Hellbound and Down 