The deadline that Congress set for the release of the remaining John F. Kennedy assassination archives is later this month—Oct. 26. It will be President Joe Biden’s call. What’s at issue is transparency about what is officially known about what unconscionably and tragically happened 58 years ago. Potential embarrassments over a government agency—such as the CIA—complicity are not sufficient cause to override democratic transparency. Rogues were not unknown during the height of the Cold War.
Lee Harvey Oswald was involved, but he wasn’t, of course, on the grassy knoll. There’s a reason why he called himself a “patsy” and why a mob-related, strip club owner took him out. Leave it at that for now. Let us all see what still remains suspiciously opaque in the archives.