Kennedy. Dallas. 1963. It is arguably the most famous political assassination in American history (right up there with Lincoln’s), but it is the one whose mystery has captured the most imagination.
Three decades after Congress ordered that papers related to the killing be made public with limited exceptions, President Biden has declared that he has made his “final certification” of files to be released, even though 4,684 documents remain at least partially under wraps.
Going forward, agencies will decide on any future disclosures.
The president’s certification was issued at 6:36 PM on the Friday before the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. It has frustrated researchers and historians still focused on the murder, even more so after a federal judge refused to interfere with Biden’s order.
Jefferson Morley, the editor of the blog JFK Facts and the author of several books on the CIA, said to Peter Baker of The New York Times the belated identification of Reuben Efron in Biden’s order, the man who intercepted Lee Harvey Oswald’s mail for the CIA, indicated that intelligence agencies still had something to hide.
“If they hid this guy’s name for 61 years and they’re still hiding other stuff, I would say they’re still hiding sources and methods around Oswald,” Mr. Morley said. “Why else did the name remain secret for 61 years? The C.I.A. is trying to slam the door now, and Biden’s gone along with this.”
He was not alone. “It’s insulting to anyone who cares about truth in this case because the Biden White House intentionally released it on a Friday night before what’s basically a long holiday weekend,” Gerald Posner, author of the book “Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, told the Messenger. “No one disagrees that all the files should have been released a long time ago. It’s to the shame of all of us.”
The salience of the Kennedy issue is apparent even in 2024 politics: Donald Trump has promised he’d declassify it all if reelected despite not doing so as POTUS.
Even so, the White House says 99% of all documents on the Kennedy assassination are publicly available.
