President George H. W. Bush signs the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act into law. This act established the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), an independent agency tasked with examining for release all assassination-related records held by federal agencies. The ARRB gathered all assassination-related material into a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration and issued its final report in September 1998. As a result of the ARRB, approximately five million documents related to the assassination were released, including all Warren Commission documents, with the exception of income tax returns, with only minor redactions. Approximately 35,000 documents were not made fully available, including documents from the CIA, FBI and NSA. The ARRB determined that all existing assassination-related documents were to be made public by October 2017.
Kent Barker Collection / The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
January 2, 1960
JFK ENTERS THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Senator Kennedy announces his candidacy for President of the United States.
Listen to an excerpt from the oral history interview with Jacques Lowe, the Kennedys' personal photographer for many years, by clicking "Find out more."
Image: Kennedy's presidential campaign button features his face on a background of red, white and blue stripes.