FBI Unveils ‘Lost’ JFK Assassination Files After 60 Years; What Do They Reveal? Will History Change?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI has discovered approximately 2,400 previously unrecognized records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, according to an announcement made Tuesday. The files, which had not been previously inventoried, are now being transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of the ongoing declassification process.

"The FBI has made the appropriate notifications of the newly discovered documents and is working to transfer them to the National Archives and Records Administration for inclusion in the ongoing declassification process," the agency stated.

The revelation follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, who in January mandated the release of all remaining classified files concerning the assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Trump's directive reignited longstanding public and historical interest in the circumstances surrounding Kennedy’s death in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

“This is a big one. A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump said last month. “And everything will be revealed.”

The discovery adds another layer to a case that has been shrouded in controversy and speculation for over six decades. A 2023 Gallup poll found that 65% of Americans still doubt the official conclusion of the Warren Commission, which determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been among those questioning the official narrative. In a 2023 interview, Kennedy Jr. described what he called “overwhelming” evidence of CIA involvement in his uncle’s assassination, though the agency has consistently denied any role.

The Trump administration initially pushed for full transparency regarding the JFK assassination records but ultimately held back thousands of documents at the urging of intelligence agencies. The Biden administration later released an additional 17,000 records, leaving fewer than 4,700 still classified. According to NARA, more than 99% of the 320,000 documents reviewed under the JFK Records Act of 1992 have now been made public.

Historians and experts remain skeptical that the newly discovered records will provide a major breakthrough. Fredrik Logevall, a Harvard history professor, stated, “I suspect that we won't get anything too dramatic in the releases, or anything that fundamentally overturns our understanding of what occurred in Dallas.”

Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, said he is more interested in whether the files reveal new details about Oswald’s movements prior to the assassination. “The question for me is not whether the CIA was complicit, but whether the CIA was negligent,” Posner said, pointing to Oswald’s visits to Mexico City six weeks before the shooting.

Public reaction has been mixed, with many expressing skepticism over the timing of the discovery. In conversations around Cleveland, some residents voiced their doubts. One person said, "Now that AI can easily produce any documents, how would we even know if it was true?" Another remarked, "Any documents released will be heavily redacted and show us no new information."

Others viewed the release as long overdue. “It may go a little ways towards people trusting the government again... only time will tell,” said one local. Another added, “He did it because the American people have deserved to know the truth for several decades.”

Many remain unconvinced that full transparency will ever be achieved. "They only appeared because everyone involved in the assassination of Kennedy has died and there's no one to disprove the story they are going to tell," one individual commented.

Despite the FBI's announcement, conspiracy theories are expected to persist. Alice L. George, author of The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Political Trauma and American Memory, noted, “I can't imagine any document that would convince [conspiracy theorists] that Oswald acted alone. Particularly among people who are really invested in that way of thinking.”

As the files move toward declassification, attention will turn to what information, if any, will shift public perception of one of the most scrutinized assassinations in U.S. history.

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