Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 20, 1992 TAG: 9201200059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
REP. STOKES: JFK FILES WON'T SOLVE MYSTERY
A consensus is emerging to open sealed congressional files on the murder of John F. Kennedy, but the chairman of the former House assassinations committee predicted the records won't produce new evidence."The files don't contain information that alters publicly disclosed information," Rep. Louis Stokes, D-Ohio, said in an interview. "Those contending there's something in those records that covers up something will be abysmally disappointed."
Stokes said last week that he's exploring "the possibility of a resolution that would authorize release" of the files.
The pressure to open the files followed release of Oliver Stone's movie "JFK," which suggested that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy when he was shot in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
The assassination committee, led by Stokes, concluded in 1979 that Kennedy was the victim of a probable conspiracy that could have involved organized crime figures.
Others publicly supporting release of the files include former President Gerald Ford, a member of the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination; Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.; Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine; and former FBI and CIA director William Webster.
"I had not seen anything that could not be released on national security grounds," Webster said.
A spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said the family would not oppose release of the files.
The assassination committee's final report concluded that John Kennedy was the victim of a probable murder conspiracy that possibly can be traced to an individual organized crime figure or a small underworld group.
The committee also concluded that a conspiracy may have been behind the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King.