On November 22nd, 1963, in downtown Dallas, Texas, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America, was assassinated while riding in a 1961 Lincoln. Lee Harvey Oswald claimed to be the shooter and while he was being taken in for questioning, Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby.

  For years, many theories have been voiced, all asking the question: was there a conspiracy to be hidden? On November 9, 2017, more files on the JFK assassination were released, leading people to try to decipher the paperwork and add details and clarifications on their interpretations of this event. Some of the main questions that people asked were, “was there more than one shooter?” and “was the other assassin connected to either the American or Russian government?” While some of the smaller questions may have been answered, it still is unclear on the answer of those two questions, and the public may never get the answer.

  There is evidence that Oswald had some relations with the Russians, but the citizens of the US don’t know for sure if they connected also to the assassination of Kennedy. In March of 1964, Oswald came to the to the attention of the KGB, the Russian Committee for State Security, when he expressed his desire to leave the US and move to Russia. However, when the KGB looked into accepting him in, they decided not to, as they found Oswald was mentally unstable. Later, on Oswald’s vacation to Russia, when he missed a tour he was supposed to take, he set off alarms. He was later found in his hotel room, wrist badly cut, probably in effort to commit suicide. Also, when the Soviets learned of the President’s assassination, people went into shock and the nation went into high alert. Officials were scared that without leadership, someone would act impulsively and fire missiles at Russia.

  While some people jumped to the theory that Russia contributed, others jumped to the conclusion that the United States government participated, especially after more and more time without being told the full story. Questions of whether or not Oswald or Ruby were involved with the CIA arose, and so did questions about the things that didn’t hold together, like how many gunshots were heard and where gunshots came from.

  When people talk about how their activity was looked into by the government without their knowledge, the government’s defense is, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” That was fired right back into their face with the JFK files. But really, why hide something that they have no reason to keep hidden? There must be some deeper reason on why some files were still held back, and that reason might keep us from finding out.

At A-West, students are trying to decide where their political values lie. Keeping secrets impairs this process, for clarity in the government is crucial for helping the next generation of voters figure out where they stand on the myriad issues there are.

You can look through the evidence for yourself here.