President John F Kennedy’s nephew Robert F Kennedy Jr is petitioning for the release of the final sealed records on the 60th anniversary of his uncle’s assassination.
RFK Jr, a longshot 2024 presidential candidate, posted a petition titled Release The JFK Documents on his campaign website. It states that the 1992 President John F Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act mandated the release of all records linked to JFK’s assassination by 2017.
As of Wednesday – which marks six decades since JFK was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade through downtown Dallas – hundreds of government documents are still under wraps.
‘Trump refused to do it. Biden refused to do it. What is so embarrassing that they’re afraid to show the American public 60 years later?’ states the petition.
‘Trust in government is at an all-time low. Releasing the full, unredacted historical records will help to restore that trust.
‘In the spirit of transparency, in the spirit of democracy, we, the undersigned, call upon President Biden to obey the 1992 act and release the Kennedy assassination documents to the public.’
The online petition had more than 20,000 signatures by Wednesday and dozens of people continued to sign it throughout the day.
Former US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald, the prime suspect in JFK’s assassination, was shot dead two days later shot by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police headquarters.
But a Gallup poll released last week showed that 65% of Americans believe Oswald was not the only actor in the assassination and that others were ‘involved in a conspiracy’.
The 1992 records act signed by President George HW Bush instructed the National Archives to collect records on the assassination and set up a review board to analyze and release them.
President Donald Trump saw through the release of about 53,000 files and then delayed the rest citing ‘identifiable national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns’.
His successor, President Joe Biden also postponed their release upon entering office, saying that the National Archives needed more time to research them amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Archives last year made more than 13,000 records public and estimates that 99% of all documents have been made available. But many Americans are awaiting the final 1% that they hope can provide more answers on JFK’s death.
RFK Jr, who in October left the Democratic Party and declared himself an independent candidate, brought up his uncle, who is the most beloved former president according to a Gallup poll in July.
‘We can redeem my uncle’s vision of our nation as an exemplar of peace, freedom, and service to humankind,’ RFK Jr wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on the 60th anniversary.
‘His death will not have been in vain.’
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