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JFK
President John F. Kennedy's assassination is an unforgettable part of Dallas' history.Nearly 54 years later, scholars and enthusiasts alike are still processing details from that fateful drive through Dealey Plaza now that the remaining investigation files have been unsealed. For the 50th anniversary in 2013, KERA produced special stories and reports from the commemoration:The 50th: Remembering John F. Kennedy was KERA's live, two-hour special covering the official commemoration event at Dealey Plaza in Dallas on Nov. 22, 2013. Hosted by Krys Boyd and Shelley Kofler, the special includes reports from KERA reporters before the ceremony begins. Listen to the special here.Bells tolled across the city, and the event featured historian David McCullough, who read from Kennedy’s presidential speeches; Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings; religious leaders; the U.S. Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club; and a moment of silence. Read highlights from the event from KERA's live blog from that day.Throughout the month, KERA posted an online series called 22 Days In November, which takes a closer look at that fateful day, what it meant to the country and how it affected Dallas.We shared stories and memories in a series called “JFK Voices.” Explore our archives below.

New JFK Assassination Documents Delve Into Oswald's Trip To Mexico, Plans To Flee

Part of a file from the CIA, dated Oct. 10, 1963, details "a reliable and sensitive source in Mexico" report of Lee Harvey Oswald's contact with the Soviet Union embassy in Mexico City, that was released for the first time on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, by the National Archives.
Jon Elswick
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AP
Part of a file from the CIA, dated Oct. 10, 1963, details "a reliable and sensitive source in Mexico" report of Lee Harvey Oswald's contact with the Soviet Union embassy in Mexico City, that was released for the first time on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, by the National Archives.

The National Archives released 553 new documents Friday related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The Associated Press reports that the additional papers show that the CIA was working to gather information about a trip to Mexico City that Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had made weeks before he shot the president.

"Documents released Friday show officials questioned whether Oswald had been trying to get visas from the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City in order to 'make a quick escape after assassinating the president,'" the AP reports.

Previous documents in the release showed that FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover worried about convincing "the public that Oswald is the real assassin" after he was shot and killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby while in police custody two days after assassinating Kennedy.

Another document revealed that an anonymous person called a news service in Cambridge, England, urging a reporter to call the American Embassy in London "for some big news and then hung up," only 25 minutes before Kennedy was shot.

As the National Archives noted Friday, President Trump "ordered all remaining records governed by section 5 of the JFK Act be released to the public" after some agencies had requested certain redactions. "The release by the National Archives today represents the first in a series of rolling releases pursuant to the President's memorandum based on prior reviews done by agencies."

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Jessica Taylor is a political reporter with NPR based in Washington, DC, covering elections and breaking news out of the White House and Congress. Her reporting can be heard and seen on a variety of NPR platforms, from on air to online. For more than a decade, she has reported on and analyzed House and Senate elections and is a contributing author to the 2020 edition of The Almanac of American Politics and is a senior contributor to The Cook Political Report.