With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Latest Batch of J.F.K. Assassination Records Released

Related Link Click HERE for HNN's Full Coverage of JFK Files

The National Archives posted another huge trove of records related to the John F. Kennedy assassination Thursday, though nearly all of the 13,000 files are previously released documents that apparently contain fewer redactions.

It was not immediately clear how much new declassified material is contained in Thursday’s release. A small number of records related to the president’s murder by Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 22, 1963, appear to be entirely new.

One top-secret NSA document from December 12, 1963 – which still had blanked-out sections – contains a memo reporting that the Cambodian government was encouraging its people to celebrate JFK’s death.

Another new record appears to be an NSA report on Britain’s reaction to the assassination. According to a top-secret “dinar” — a report relying on intercepted communications — Britons were wary of what Lyndon B. Johnson would do on the world stage.

While “some circles in Britain believe that Johnson is an astute politician who is skillful in figuring and evaluating and a conservative who is practiced in conducting a policy of conciliation,” the report said, others “think it possible that [Soviet Premier Nikita] Khrushchev will have no confidence in him and that [French President Charles] De Gaulle may seize the opportunity to activate his plans in Europe.”

Read entire article at WaPo