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Dealey Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository (red brick, left), Dallas, photographed in 2014
Dealey Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository (red brick, left), Dallas, photographed in 2014. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith (Library of Congress) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Secrets & power · Dallas, Texas · 1963 – today

The JFK Assassination and the Files

Contested1963 CE – 2026 CEDealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, USA

Two official investigations reached different answers, the CIA kept secrets from the first one, and the files took more than 60 years to come out.

President John F. Kennedy was shot at about 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, as his motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. Texas Governor John Connally was wounded. Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a recently hired employee at the Depository, who was also charged with killing Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippit. Two days later, on live television, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot Oswald dead before he could stand trial.

Case log

An open case. Dated developments, oldest first, each with its source.

  1. The Warren Commission transmits its report to President Johnson, concluding Oswald acted alone.

    Sources: 2

  2. The JFK Assassination Records Collection Act is signed, setting a 2017 deadline for full release.

    Sources: 10

  3. The National Archives releases previously withheld JFK records under Executive Order 14176.

    Sources: 9

  4. The National Archives posts another 11,022 pages.

    Sources: 9

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Connected dossiers

MKUltra: The CIA's Mind-Control ProgramSame era · Both are Cold War CIA stories where records were hidden or destroyed.False Flag OperationsSame open question · Both ask what governments hide from their own citizens.Area 51: The Secret Base in the DesertComparable case · Another case where real secrecy fed decades of theories.

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How to read the labels

EstablishedSupported by strong, converging evidence.
ContestedEvidence exists but qualified scholars disagree.
UnresolvedThe question is open; evidence does not settle it.
LegendComes from myth, literature or tradition, not physical evidence.
SpeculativeA hypothesis with little direct evidence so far.

Hero image: Dealey Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository (red brick, left), Dallas, photographed in 2014. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith (Library of Congress) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons. Evidence labels describe the written claims, not the image. Version 1 · updated 2026-10-22.