Documents about the Kennedy assassination have been declassified in the United States. What you need to know

US authorities have declassified more than 63,000 pages of classified documents related to the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Previously, they were not shown to the public for fear that it would harm national security. Historians believe that the new information will not affect the conclusions about the assassination attempt, but will reveal details about the work of American intelligence agencies. What is the meaning of the published files — in the Izvestia material.

Why is murder controversial

• The official investigation of the Kennedy assassination was conducted by a special commission headed by the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the United States, Earl Warren. She established that the politician died on November 22, 1963, during a trip to Dallas as a result of an assassination attempt by former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. He fired three shots from a rifle while on the sixth floor of the book depository, while the president's motorcade was driving down the street. One bullet missed its target, the second entered Kennedy in the back and exited through the neck, wounding Texas Governor John Connally in front, and the third shattered Kennedy's head, causing death.

• Oswald, according to the commission's findings, acted alone, while it was not possible to determine his motivation to kill Kennedy. He was arrested shortly after the shooting and strongly denied any involvement in the incident. He told reporters that he had become a suspect because of his trip to the USSR. Two days after the assassination attempt on Kennedy, Oswald was killed by local resident Jack Ruby during his transfer to prison, which is why his trial did not take place.

The Dark Side of the Country: The Kennedy Files published

The version of the secret services conspiracy is getting more and more evidence.

• The conclusions of the Warren Commission have been repeatedly criticized, which has led to several alternative versions of what happened. The claim that Oswald acted alone or only on his own initiative was usually questioned. The most famous theory in this regard was put forward by the prosecutor of New Orleans, John Garrison. He concluded that the assassination was organized by a group of far-right conspirators dissatisfied with Kennedy's policies and associated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Three shooters were shooting, and Oswald was framed by the conspirators and is actually innocent. Garrison charged Clay Shaw, the only surviving suspect, but he was acquitted by a jury.

• Beliefs that Oswald could not have been the only shooter are usually associated with the "magic bullet" that wounded Kennedy and Connally, who was sitting in front of him in the car. Proponents of alternative versions believe that one bullet could not have followed such a trajectory, so there were at least two shooters. Witness statements, as well as photos and videos from the scene, also provided some grounds to suggest the possible involvement of several people in the murder.

• Various versions of the Kennedy assassination also concerned possible organizers. In addition to Harrison, former secret service agent Howard Hunt claimed the CIA's involvement in the assassination. According to him, the vice president of the United States and a native of Texas, Lyndon Johnson, was the mastermind of the assassination and instructed the CIA agents to do so. He eventually became president on the day of Kennedy's assassination. There were also theories about the involvement of the mafia and the USSR.

Why are the documents being published?

• The increased interest in the Kennedy assassination continued throughout the following decades. In this regard, back in 1992, the US Congress passed a law according to which all documents related to the assassination attempt must be declassified and published within 25 years. At the same time, it was stipulated that the US president could cancel the publication if it harms defense, national security or international relations. A total of 6 million pages, photographs, and other materials related to the Kennedy assassination were selected. The vast majority of the documents, about 99%, had already been declassified by 1998.

• Shortly after the start of his second term, US President Donald Trump issued a decree on the publication of all documents related to the assassination of Kennedy, as well as his brother Robert Kennedy and equal rights activist Martin Luther King. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has determined that 80,000 pages of previously classified materials will be published. As a result, 2,082 documents on 63,500 pages were published on March 19.

• The analysis of all information by historians will take some time, but the first conclusions about the published materials have already been made. The new files have no global impact on the Warren Commission's conclusion that Oswald was the only shooter and did not act under anyone's influence. For the most part, they shed light on some minor issues on which those interested in the murder had no agreement.

• Some published documents are badly damaged and unreadable due to their age. Many papers have already been published in edited form, but now their full versions have been presented, which may be of some interest to historians.

• For example, one of the documents from November 1991 describes how, at the request of American Professor Albert Smith, an employee of the State Security Committee (KGB) checked the materials concerning Oswald. He concluded that Oswald had never been a KGB agent, although he was closely monitored when the future assassin was in the USSR. The employee also pointed out that according to the KGB, Oswald was a bad shot.

Why were the documents hidden for a long time

However, what makes the published documents valuable is not that they can somehow shake past beliefs about the Kennedy assassination. Now historians and investigative enthusiasts are getting files at their disposal that were not shown for the reason that they could somehow affect the interests of American intelligence agencies, especially the CIA. After all, if the information presented in them did not pose a definite threat, it would have been published long ago.

• We have already managed to satisfy some interest in this regard. For example, the researchers got into the hands of the full version of the memorandum of Kennedy's assistant Arthur Schlesinger, sent to the president in June 1961. In it, he criticized the CIA for its growing influence and argued that the number of agents in other countries already exceeds the staff of diplomatic missions in the United States, which, according to Schlesinger, indicates the CIA's desire to influence foreign policy. The declassified version of the document indicates the specific number of CIA officers who were stationed in France, Austria and Chile at the time.

• Also published is a detailed description of how the CIA tapped phones in Mexico City to intercept conversations between Soviet and Cuban diplomats. In the files concerning the Kennedy assassination, this document appeared due to the fact that Oswald visited the USSR and Cuba shortly before the assassination. The declassified instructions for operatives describe in detail what chemicals should be used to label the monitored devices.

The president's skeleton in the closet: why Trump wants to declassify JFK assassination documents

Will a major mystery in American history be solved

• The published documents also contain a description of how CIA agents monitored the Soviet embassy in Mexico and tried to recruit their agents. The names and positions of the double agents are also indicated. In addition, surveillance was conducted on an American suspected of sympathizing with communism.

• Another piece of news concerns the existence of a group of agents in the CIA in those years who were engaged in the international arms trade, including for the "armed resistance" in the USSR. Agent Gary Underhill, who found out about this, according to a 1967 magazine article, told his friends that the CIA was responsible for Kennedy's assassination and that he feared for his life. According to him, a group of intelligence agents was involved in arms trafficking, drugs and other contraband, and the president found out about it, for which he was killed. Six months later, Underhill was found dead in his apartment, and the coroner ruled his death a suicide. Based on the material in the article, the United States initiated a check and found out that high-ranking CIA agents were indeed closely involved in the trade and purchase of weapons, however, information about all transactions was allegedly provided to the FBI and other authorities.