Will the Release of the JFK Assassination Records Put to Rest One …

Yesterday President Trump allowed the scheduled release of classified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Although there are roughly 300 more documents yet to be made public due to national security concerns, the release of some 2,800 previously classified filed may put to rest one of the most widely believed conspiracy theories.

Since Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, polls show that 60% or more believe the assassination was not the work of one individual. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago asked the first question soon after the assassination. In their late 1963 poll, 62% said other people were involved while 24% said it was the work of one man. In three polls taken by Harris between 1967 and 1981, around two-thirds said the assassination was the work of a broader conspiracy. In a Fox News poll of registered voters in 2003, 66% gave that response. And, in 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination, 61% told Gallup others were involved. In a poll taken by ABC News and the Washington Post at around the same time, 62% said they believed there was an official cover-up to keep the public from learning about the assassination.

Our November 2013 AEI Public Opinion Study examined public opinion on this and other conspiracy theories that have captured swathes of the public imagination.