Two of former President John F. Kennedy’s聽nephews are calling on the Biden administration to release the final documents pertaining to his assassination in 1963聽after the White House announced last week that it was delaying releasing them聽due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
records were set to be made public on Tuesday, but the White House released a memo on Oct. 22 stating that it would delay their聽publication until at least Dec. 15.
In the memo, the White House said the National Archives and Records Administration has concluded that the聽COVID-19 pandemic has had “a significant impact on the agencies” and that they require聽additional time to consult with government agencies to determine how much more information about the assassination can be released.
Following the memo,聽Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Politico that the government鈥檚 delay in releasing the remaining documents is “an outrage.”
“It鈥檚 an outrage against American democracy. We鈥檙e not supposed to have secret governments within the government,” he聽said. “How the hell is it 58 years later, and what in the world could justify not releasing these documents?”
His cousin, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), said the records should be released because the聽American people have a right to know about “something that left such a scar in this nation鈥檚 soul that lost not only a president but a promise of a brighter future.”
“I think for the good of the country, everything has to be put out there so there鈥檚 greater understanding of our history,” Patrick Kennedy said.
John F. Kennedy,聽the 35th president of the United States, was killed on Nov. 22, 1963聽while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who had聽recently been hired to work at the Texas School Book Depository,聽was arrested by officials and聽formally arraigned for his murder, as well as the murder of police officer聽J.D. Tippit, whom he allegedly shot on the same day.
Oswald was later shot and killed by gunman聽Jack Ruby while being held in Dallas police headquarters. Ruby, a nightclub owner, told police that revenge over聽Kennedy鈥檚 murder was the motive for his action. He was later charged with聽first-degree murder.
Nearly 30 years later, Congress enacted the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, mandating that “all Government records concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy … should be eventually disclosed to enable the public to become fully informed about the history surrounding the assassination.”
records consist of more than聽5 million pages of assassination-related records, photographs, video footage, sound recordings, and artifacts, according to the National Archives.
documents were finally set to be declassified in 2017, but then-President Donald Trump postponed the release for four years, citing聽national security concerns.
However, in 2018 Trump did approve the release of聽19,045 documents, of which roughly 15,000 have some redactions,聽that are available on the National Archives website.
President Joe Biden has continued聽Trump鈥檚 policy of shielding the records, despite himself serving in聽the U.S. Senate when the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 was unanimously passed in Congress.
Currently, approximately 88 percent of the records pertaining to the assassination have been released in full, while an additional 11 percent have been released with redactions of sensitive information. A further 1 percent of the documents identified as assassination-related are yet to be made public, according to the National Archives.
White House said in a statement to Politico that the “public聽will have access to a tranche of previously withheld records and redacted information withheld in previously released records” and that the “Biden administration is setting up a whole-of government effort to ensure the maximum possible disclosure of information by the end of 2022.”
Pezou : John F. Kennedy’s Nephews Urge Biden Administration to Release Final Documents Pertaining to Assassination
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