March 21, 2025
What to expect from the Kennedy assassination documents
By
Bill Hansmann
President Trump has delivered on another promise and released all the documents -- some 80,000 -- relating to the JFK assassination. So, the nation and the world will finally discover what happened on that November Friday over sixty years ago.
Fat chance!
The death of President Kennedy marked the end of innocence for our nation if, indeed, a nation having fought in two world wars and the Korean conflict, survived the Depression, and was a major player in an ongoing cold war could claim innocence.
Despite those occurrences, Americans did see themselves as a chosen people, destined for greatness and great fortune. But, regardless of how we saw ourselves or how others saw us, the events in Dallas that fateful Friday changed our national psyche in devastating ways.
Thoughts of a
Camelot existence, characterized by the confidence and joy Kennedy brought to our citizens, ended with his death at Dallas Parkland Hospital. Self-doubt became a national affliction. We began decades of senseless wars and even more senseless social programs designed to make life better for all Americans but which succeeded only in making our daily lives less rewarding and less filled with accomplishment. This plague of self-doubt continues to prevail in our nation to this day.