On Tuesday, a vast trove of documents regarding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination was made public, totaling 1,123 pages. This release adds to the over 5 million pages that have already been disclosed.
No major new details were found immediately, but scholars said it would take time to sift through them all.
Among the newly available documents are insights into Lee Harvey Oswald’s movements, including a trip to Finland prior to the assassination.
Among these files is a memorandum from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, written just hours after Oswald’s death at the hands of Jack Ruby. The memo urges the government to assure the public that Oswald was indeed the person responsible for Kennedy’s murder.
The release of these documents was mandated by President Donald Trump, and they are now accessible through the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s website.
During a visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump remarked, “We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading.” At that time, he noted that around 3,000 records had not been fully disclosed, with the FBI recently uncovering an additional 2,400 records, according to reports.
So, who was Lee Harvey Oswald? Oswald, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, was apprehended for the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, as the presidential motorcade passed through Dallas. The Warren Commission, which was set up by President Lyndon B. Johnson, concluded that Oswald acted alone.
The newly declassified files provide more details about Oswald’s foreign ties and his actions in the months leading up to the assassination. Some records imply that Oswald interacted with Soviet and Cuban officials while overseas and upon his return to the U.S.
It is known that Oswald visited both the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City several weeks before the assassination, where witnesses recall him asking about obtaining a visa to Cuba. This has led to ongoing speculation regarding foreign involvement, although no concrete evidence has emerged to support claims of an international conspiracy.
Who was Jack Ruby? Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner, shot Oswald dead at close range on live television just two days after Oswald’s arrest.
The newly released documents provide further details about Ruby’s involvement with organized crime, revealing that his connections were more extensive than previously thought.
Ruby, born Jacob Leon Rubenstein around 1911 in Chicago, endured a violent and troubled childhood, often interacting with law enforcement and spending considerable time around the city’s criminal underworld.
By 1963, Ruby had experienced several failed business ventures, including an unsuccessful attempt at running an upscale venue called the Sovereign Club. He later purchased a nightclub, renamed the Carousel Club, where he offered a mix of champagne, beer, pizza, music, and dancers to attract customers.
Some of the newly available documents suggest that Ruby had ties to people involved in illicit activities, such as gambling and racketeering. This raises the question of whether Ruby acted on his own or if he was ordered to kill Oswald in order to silence him.
“Ruby is, for some people, the Rosetta Stone that you can use to unwrap the entire Kennedy conspiracy theory. But for others, he’s just a guy who took matters into his own hands because he loved Kennedy and wanted to spare Jackie [the president’s wife] the pain of possibly coming back to Dallas to testify in a trial,” Stephen Fagin, the curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, said.The post FEW REVELATIONS: What Do The JFK Files Reveal About Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby? first appeared on Matzav.com.