The US National Archives on Thursday released thousands of documents related to the 1963 assassination of former president John F Kennedy.
About 97 per cent of the records, which total roughly five million pages, previously held by the archives have now been released.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that a “limited” number of documents would remain top secret at the request of unnamed agencies.
The CIA and FBI have both requested documents be retained in the past.
“Temporary continued postponement of public disclosure of such information is necessary to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defence, intelligence operations, law enforcement or the conduct of foreign relations,” Mr Biden said.
Kennedy was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding through Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He was 46.
Oswald, a Marine sharpshooter, had at one point attempted to defect to the Soviet Union, returned to the US and then tried to acquire a Russian visa in two different countries. His wife Marina was from the bloc and did not speak English.
For decades, conspiracy theories have abounded over the assassination, which has been the focus of books, movies and podcasts. Some propose foreign governments were involved or that Oswald was a double agent.
None have yielded conclusive proof that Oswald collaborated with anyone and neither do the documents dumped earlier today. Oswald took any and all answers to his grave when he was fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, only two days after he killed Kennedy.
Though there were rumours that Ruby killed Oswald to silence him, the nightclub owner said that he did it to save Kennedy's widow from having to relive the nightmare in a trial.
And a newly released document confirms that the CIA found “no indication that Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald ever knew each other, were associated or might have been connected in any manner”.
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Members of the Kennedy family pose for a photo circa 1948 in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. From left, John, Jean, Rose, Joseph Sr, Patricia, Robert, Eunice and in the foreground Edward. AP -
Joseph Patrick Kennedy, wife Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and their five children pose in the garden of the US embassy in London in 1937. Getty Images -
John F Kennedy and wife Jacqueline take a ride on their sailboat in Hyannis Port. AP -
President-elect John F Kennedy, centre, is surrounded by family members. AP -
John F Kennedy, right, and Richard Nixon appear in the fourth and final presidential debate in New York. The 1960 presidential election offered the country's first televised debates. AP -
Former US president Dwight Eisenhower shakes hands with Jacqueline Kennedy as she and president-elect John F Kennedy arrive at the North Portico of the White House on inauguration day, January 20, 1961. AP -
President John F Kennedy and British prime minister at the time Harold Macmillan stand in the West Wing Colonnade of the White House in 1961. AFP -
Jackie Kennedy boards a plane with her sister, Lee Radziwill. Getty Images -
Edward Kennedy at the White House in 1962, flanked by his brothers Robert and John. AP -
Jackie Kennedy leads her daughter Caroline's pony, Macaroni, while giving gives a tour of the White House grounds to Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran in 1962. AP -
The Kennedy children play in the Oval Office at White House. AFP -
Deputy administrator of Nasa Robert Seamans and Wernher von Braun with John F Kennedy in November 1963. Nasa / AP -
Jackie Kennedy with her children during the funeral of her husband on November 25, 1963. AP -
Eunice Kennedy cheers on a young athlete during the Special Olympics, started by the Kennedy family. Getty Images -
Joe Biden when he was in the Senate with Edward Kennedy in 1987. AP -
Joe Biden talks to then-president Bill Clinton's Supreme Court nominee Stephen Breyer, as Edward Kennedy looks on. AP -
John F Kennedy Jr answering journalists questions soon after his mother Jackie Kennedy's death in New York. AFP -
John F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy arrive at the White House for a state dinner in 1998. Both died in a plane crash in 1999. AFP -
A woman adds a candle to a makeshift memorial during a candlelight vigil for Edward Kennedy in Washington. Getty Images / AFP -
Former US representative Joseph Kennedy II speaking at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston in 2009. AP -
The Kennedy brothers, from left, John, Robert and Edward. AP -
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, seen here at Viking Press, became a book editor. Photo: Corbis -
Caroline Kennedy, the sole surviving child of president John F Kennedy, is the current US ambassador to Australia and previously served as ambassador to Japan under president Barack Obama. Getty Images / AFP -
John F Kennedy, right, Robert F Kennedy, second from right, and Patricia Kennedy, front left, pose with friends in Palm Beach in 1936. AP -
Eunice Kennedy Shriver with her husband, Robert Sargent Shriver. Photo: WireImage -
Wearing a gown by Christian Dior, Eunice Kennedy marries Robert Sargent Shriver in 1957. Getty Images -
Maria Shriver and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007. Ms Shriver is the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. AP -
President Sheikh Mohamed, who was Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi at the time, greets Maria Shriver. Photo: Ministry of the Presidential Court -
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have three children: Christina, Patrick and Katherine. AP -
Maria Shriver speaks during the Women's March in Los Angeles in 2021. AFP -
Robert F Kennedy addresses campaign workers moments before being shot in Los Angeles in 1968, his wife Ethel at his side. AP -
Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F Kennedy, in 2014. Reuters -
The Kennedy Family at Hyannis Port in 1931. From left, Robert, John, Eunice, Jean, Joseph Senior, Rose, Patricia, Kathleen, Joseph Jr and Rosemary. The dog in the foreground is Buddy. Photo: John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum -
Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is married to US actor Chris Pratt. AP -
Robert F Kennedy's daughter Kerry Kennedy in 2021. She was previously married to former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. AFP -
Robert F Kennedy Jr speaks at the Defeat the Mandates rally in Washington, protesting against the Covid-19 vaccine. EPA -
US actress Cheryl Hines is married to Robert F Kennedy Jr. AFP -
Cheryl Hines condemned her husband's remarks comparing the Covid vaccine and mask mandates to the Holocaust. Getty -
Arnold Schwarzenegger and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger. Photo: US Special Olympics
The sea of documents includes details about Oswald's visits to Mexico. He entered the country, supposedly by car, at Nuevo Laredo on September 26, 1963, claiming he was a photographer living in New Orleans and bound for Mexico City.
While there, Oswald made several calls to the Soviet embassy, asking in broken English for a visa so he could go to Odessa.
On September 28, he visited the Cuban embassy and Sylvia Duran, a Mexican employee at the Cuban embassy, telephoned the Soviet embassy about his problem.
The release of the documents is in compliance with an October 26, 1992, act of Congress which required that the assassination records held in the National Archives be released in full and unredacted 25 years later.
Agencies contributed to this report
