Release Of JFK Documents Could 'Cause Some Embarrassments' To FBI, CIA
BOSTON (CBS) -- New details about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be released by the federal government Thursday.
While many are excited to learn more information, Congressman Joe Kennedy said he wished his family had played a larger role in the President's decision to make the documents public.
"It would've been nice if there was some communication between this administration and the members of our family. I understand the historical value of those documents. I don't dispute that. They also happen to be quite personal as well. I have no idea what's in them so I can't comment more than that," he said. "It would have been nice if there was some engagement from this administration."
The documents include FBI and CIA reports, more than 3,000 that have never been seen before by the public.
Boston University professor and presidential historian Tom Whalen said the release is long overdue.
"It might cause some embarrassments to the intelligence agencies because J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the FBI, in previously released documents basically admitted the FBI screwed up on November 22. Lee Harvey Oswald shouldn't have been a country mile of the presidential motorcade. They should have detained him but the intelligence agencies were not communicating to one another," he said.
The release was coordinated by 1992 law known as the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, which stated the documents must be made public by the law's 25th anniversary.
"I think there's no doubt that Oswald did the actual killing but was he a much bigger conspiracy? were foreign powers involved?" Whalen said.
According to Whalen, the documents will probably not have any unexpected or revolutionary details.
That didn't stop one man headed to the JFK Library from looking forward to the release, though.
He said, "I think the country has waited a long time to find out the real details about what happened in Dallas."