Thousands of documents pertaining to President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination released by the National Archives last Thursday revived the national conversation about government involvement with his death, rousing some Boston University history researchers interested in the topic.
The files include photographs, video and audio recordings in addition to other paper records related to the assassination, according to the National Archives website. Although they grant historians a vital opportunity to glean more information about the time period, BU experts said they don’t offer much useful new information.
International relations professor Michael Corgan said since the release, many researchers have been combing through the documents to find a smoking gun. However, the files mostly just confirm the current body of knowledge and don’t add anything new or remarkable for historians to look into.
The notable findings, Corgan explained, were trivial relative to what many were hoping for.
“We found out [Lee Harvey Oswald] had been making threats against President Eisenhower some years earlier … and that he was a troubled person at best,” he said. “We found out more about his visits to Cuba just before the assassination. We still don’t know whether he went with someone or not.”
History professor Michael Holm wrote in an email that since the government took so long to release the files, their contents were hyped-up and sensationalized beyond reason.
“What the documents have shown … is that there is a massive tendency to over-classify,” Holm wrote. “This limits the public’s access, it limits oversight and insight, and instead feeds the public’s fascination with the supposedly ‘secret.’ That is rarely healthy for the national public debate.”
He added that he thinks the topic fascinates the general public and conspiracy theorists more than it does historians.
Corgan said in continuing to analyze the newly-released documents, he does not believe researchers will find anything that contradicts current conclusions about Kennedy’s death, although they might reveal additional cover-ups from the government.
“If there is a conspiracy, it will be the most successful conspiracy the world has ever known, that somewhere between 4,000 people and 4,500 people had to be in on it and not one of them for whatever reason leaked information,” he said. “I think what you’ll see is screw ups. I think that’s what the documents will show, but not a conspiracy.”
He noted that studying these documents is worthwhile for preventing mistakes that might happen in the future.
“The more we know about things the more we can prevent them from happening,” Corgan said. “If we know who was involved, what happened, what cues were missed, for example, it would help.”
Several students said they believed the release of these files is important to constructing a more thorough understanding of the assassination, which scarred many Americans over a half-century ago.
Sangyeol Lee, a member of Generation Citizen at BU, emphasized the importance of the files’ release in reestablishing the government’s credibility.
“BU professors have a great opportunity on their hands and this could lead to great progress for themselves and the American public’s understanding of history,” the College of General Studies sophomore in the said.
Madeline Lucke, a freshman in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said these documents can remind Americans of the vulnerability of the country, especially its political figures.
“A lot of Americans especially feel that America is untouchable,” Lucke said. “It’s kind of important to remember that we’re not invulnerable and it should be studied so it doesn’t happen again.”
Enzo Plaitano, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he believes the new information can help update widely known information about JFK’s assassination.
“Whenever new information comes out it’s important to look it over and see if there’s any new information within the documents and everything,” Plaitano said. “I think it’s good to keep up to date and just evaluate stuff when it comes out.”
