Final trove of documents to offer new details on JFK assassination
John F. Kennedy
BOSTON (Reuters) - More than half a century after  U.S. President John F. Kennedy  was struck down by an assassinâs bullet in Dallas  Texas  the United States is due on Thursday to release the final files on the investigation into the killing that rattled a nation.
FILE PHOTO:  President John F. Kennedy in an undated photograph courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum . REUTERS/JFK Presidential Library and Museum/Handout/File Photo via REUTERS
Academics who have studied  Kennedy âs slaying on Nov. 22  1963  said they expected the final batch of files to offer no major new details on why Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down the first and only Irish-American Roman Catholic to hold the office.
They also feared that the final batch of more than 5 million total pages on the  Kennedy  assassination held in the National Archives will do little to quell long-held conspiracy theories that the 46-year-old presidentâs killing was organized by the Mafia  by Cuba  or a cabal of rogue agents.
Thousands of books  articles  TV shows and films have explored the idea that  Kennedy âs assassination was the result of an elaborate conspiracy. None have produced conclusive proof that Oswald  who was shot dead a day after killing Kennedy  worked with anyone else  though they retain a powerful cultural currency.
âMy students are really skeptical that Oswald was the lone assassin â said Patrick Maney  a professor of history at Boston College. âItâs hard to get our minds around this  that someone like a loner  a loser  could on his own have murdered  Kennedy  and changed the course of world history. But thatâs where the evidence is.â
FILE PHOTO:  U.S. President John F. Kennedy  signs a proclamation for the interdiction of the delivery of offensive weapons to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis  at the White House in Washington  DC October 23  1962. Cecil Stoughton/The White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library/File Photo via REUTERS
In 1992  Congress ordered that all records relating to the investigation into  Kennedy âs death should be open to the public  and set a final deadline of Oct. 26  2017 for the entire set to be made public.
 Kennedy âs assassination was the first in a string of politically motivated killings  including those of  his  brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.  that stunned the United States during the turbulent 1960s.  He  remains one of the most admired U.S. presidents.
BOSTON (Reuters) - More than half a century after  U.S. President John F. Kennedy  was struck down by an assassinâs bullet in Dallas  Texas  the United States is due on Thursday to release the final files on the investigation into the killing that rattled a nation.
FILE PHOTO:   [TGT]  . REUTERS/JFK Presidential Library and Museum/Handout/File Photo via REUTERS
Academics who have studied   [TGT]  âs slaying on Nov. 22  1963  said they expected the final batch of files to offer no major new details on why Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down the first and only Irish-American Roman Catholic to hold the office.
They also feared that the final batch of more than 5 million total pages on the  Kennedy  assassination held in the National Archives will do little to quell long-held conspiracy theories that the 46-year-old presidentâs killing was organized by the Mafia  by Cuba  or a cabal of rogue agents.
Thousands of books  articles  TV shows and films have explored the idea that   [TGT]  âs assassination was the result of an elaborate conspiracy. None have produced conclusive proof that Oswald  who was shot dead a day after killing Kennedy  worked with anyone else  though they retain a powerful cultural currency.
âMy students are really skeptical that Oswald was the lone assassin â said Patrick Maney  a professor of history at Boston College. âItâs hard to get our minds around this  that someone like a loner  a loser  could on his own have murdered  Kennedy  and changed the course of world history. But thatâs where the evidence is.â
FILE PHOTO:   [TGT] signs a proclamation for the interdiction of the delivery of offensive weapons to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis  at the White House in Washington  DC October 23  1962. Cecil Stoughton/The White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library/File Photo via REUTERS
In 1992  Congress ordered that all records relating to the investigation into   [TGT]  âs death should be open to the public  and set a final deadline of Oct. 26  2017 for the entire set to be made public.
  [TGT]  âs assassination was the first in a string of politically motivated killings  including those of   [TGT]   brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.  that stunned the United States during the turbulent 1960s.   [TGT]   remains one of the most admired U.S. presidents.