THE LONG- SECRET JFK ASSASSINATION FILES

© The Associated Press - Nov. 22, 1963 file photo, President John F. Kennedy waves from his car in a motorcade in Dallas. Riding with Kennedy are First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, right, Nellie Connally, second from left, and her husband…

• I was two years old when this thing happened and I can still remember my families reaction when the crime took place. They were all shocked and their ears were on the radio most of the time. In those days we don't have television. And I just realized how on earth I did remember those times though I didn't much understand why although in later years I have asked my mother about certain things.

• BOSTON (AP) — although the public is getting a look at thousands of secret government files, hundreds of other documents will remain under wraps for now.

POINTERS TO THINK ABOUT:

• November 22, 1963 - John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas
• the government was required to release the final batch of the files on Thursday relating to the assassination of JFK
• Trump delayed the release citing security concerns
• Government withholding documents will only increase the suspicion

• 3,100 - last batch of assassination files - comprising of hundreds of thousands of pages that were never seen in public
• 30,000 documents were released previously with redactions or edited
• 2,800 documents were released on its website on Thursday evening by the National Archives
• Trump delayed the release of the remaining files after last-minute appeals from the CIA and FBI citing "potentially irreversible harm" to national security if he were to allow all the records out now and placed those files under a six-month review. Officials say Trump will impress upon federal agencies that JFK files should stay secret after the six-month review "only in the rarest cases."

• October 26, 1992 - President George W.H. Bush signed a law requiring that all documents related to the assassination be released within 25 years, unless the president says doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations. The push for transparency was driven in part by the uproar in the wake of Oliver Stone's 1991 conspiracy-theory filled film "JFK."

• Chances are slim, according to the judge who led the independent board that reviewed and released thousands of the assassination documents in the 1990s.
• The files that were withheld in full were those the Assassination Records Review Board deemed "not believed relevant," Judge John Tunheim of Minnesota told The Associated Press. He said, " it's possible the files contain information the board didn't realize was important two decades ago."
• JFK experts believe the files will provide insight into the inner workings of the CIA and FBI. But they stress that it will take weeks to mine the documents for potentially new and interesting information.

• Some of the documents are related to Oswald's mysterious six-day trip to Mexico City right before the assassination
• Oswald said he was visiting the Cuban and Soviet Union embassies there to get visas, but much about his time there remains unknown.
• The to-be-released documents contained details about the arrangements the U.S. entered into with the Mexican government that allowed it to have close surveillance of those and other embassies, Tunheim said.
• Scholars hope it will be released in full including an internal CIA document on its Mexico City station, and a report on Oswald's trip from staffers of the House committee that investigated the assassination.

Associated Press