President Donald Trump Releases JFK Assassination Files

On Thursday, October 26, 2017, President Donald Trump released over 2,800 records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  President Trump’s actions were done in accordance with a 1992 law that mandated the release of the records after twenty-five years of the enactment of the law.  However, approximately 300 files have remained classified in the interest of national security, but President Trump has pledged that more files will be released within the next few months.

The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 permits President Trump to release any of the files unless they present “an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement or conduct of foreign relations”.  The documents that were released shed some light on the circumstances surrounding the assassination, such as threats made to Lee Harvey Oswald after his assassination of President Kennedy as well as CIA information related to Lee Harvey Oswald.  In addition, the documents have the potential to not only provide more information regarding the operations of the CIA and FBI, but they could also give Americans a better of understanding of what happened that fateful day on November 22, 1963.

As more and more documents are released in the future, the missing pieces of American history will slowly come together and further Americans understanding of our nation’s past.