By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-01 21:42:57 | Updated at 2025-04-03 00:46:02
1 day ago
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, whose 1991 film JFK portrayed President John F. Kennedy’s assassination as the work of a shadowy government conspiracy, called on Tuesday for a new congressional investigation of the killing during a hearing that aired conspiracy theories about it.
The freewheeling hearing of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, where partisan grievances were aired, followed last month’s release of thousands of pages of government documents related to the assassination.
The task force’s Republican chair opened the proceedings by questioning the Warren Commission investigation’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in fatally shooting Kennedy as his motorcade finished a parade route in downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Scholars say the files that US President Donald Trump ordered to be released showed nothing undercutting the conclusion that a lone gunman killed Kennedy. Many documents were previously released but contained newly removed redactions, including Social Security numbers, angering people whose personal information was disclosed.
Stone’s JFK was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture, and won two. It grossed more than US$200 million but was also dogged by questions about its historical accuracy. Stone told the committee that he believes decades of delays in releasing unredacted records had prevented “clarity” about who killed JFK.
Stone also said a new investigation “outside all political considerations” should begin “at the scene of the crime” and re-examine all of the evidence from the day of the assassination. Scholars and historians have concluded that there’s strong evidence that Oswald, a 24-year-old former Marine, acted alone in killing Kennedy.
