At the Mr Trump’s directive, the National Archives have steadily been releasing batches of documents that illuminate the government’s activity around the Mr Kennedy’s 1963 death. More than 19,000 more have been made public -  but another chunk will remain under wraps.

“The continued withholdings are necessary to protect against identifiable harm to national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure”, Mr Trump said in a memo.

While the remaining documents are set to be revealed by October of 2021, national security agencies could still continue to postpone their release.

The thousands of documents released so far have not contained explosive revelations about Mr Kennedy’s death in Dallas, Texas.

But they do furnish a portrait of the era, depicting both both the sprawling investigation into Mr Kennedy’s death and efforts to company communism and surveil suspects.

One document in the latest batch recounts activists “associated with black and antiwar movements” being put on a government watch list in 1967.

Other files have illuminated the government’s concerted efforts to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, including by handing a Cuban asset a poison-tipped pen on the day of Mr Kennedy’s death.

The Independent

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