(NewsNation) — More than six decades on from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, questions remain as to what truly occurred.
On Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot in the back and head while traveling in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas.
He was pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital and Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for first murdering police officer J.D. Tippit and later Kennedy.
However, several other theories suggest Oswald was a “patsy” or fall guy for the assassination. A full 61 years since the shooting, those theories persist, and some withheld documents from the government fuel speculation that the public does not know everything it should about the death of 35th president of the United States.
The 61st anniversary
A moment’s silence will be held at 12:30 p.m. Friday in Dealey Plaza, while the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza held a two-night event “examining the traumatic impact of the assassination.”
Unsolved: The JFK Assassination | A NewsNation Special Report
Trump’s pledge to release JFK files
President-elect Donald Trump said during his election campaign that should he return to the White House he would release all the remaining documents related to the assassination.
According to the Associated Press, while several thousand government records remain unreleased, profound revelations should not be expected.
“Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” author Gerald Posner, who wrote “Case Closed”, told the AP.
Unseen footage recently released
In September, previously unseen footage of Kennedy riding in his motorcade was released before it went up for auction.
The footage, a color silent 8 mm film taken by Dale Carpenter Sr., was sold by RR Auction for $137,500.
“These images, these films and photographs, a lot of times they are still out there. They are still being discovered or rediscovered in attics or garages,” Stephen Fagin, curator for The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, said, via AP.
Theories
While official investigations determined Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman, many have speculated about the number of shooters involved.
In a 2023 interview with NewsNation, actor and director Rob Reiner, who has a 10-part podcast series named “Who Killed JFK” said he had proof that four men were involved.
Private investigator Josiah Thompson, who has devoted much of his life to studying Kennedy’s assassination told NewsNation last year that he believes at least two shooters were involved.
“One of those shots was fired too close to the other two to have come from Oswald’s rifle,” he said.
Ross Coulthart asks: Did JFK know about UFOs? | Reality Check
“We can’t have the president of the United States assassinated by person or by persons unknown. That’s not a stable position for our society to embrace. So we’ll fix it a little,” Thompson added, when asked what he believes happened.
Thompson believes there will never be a true answer as to what happened on that fateful day in Dallas.
NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside and Ross Coulthart contributed to this report.
