VOA · U.S. History
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed7:462017-10-27public domain
The U.S. History series (The Making of a Nation) tells American history from the colonial era onward in VOA Special English: slow speed, limited vocabulary, long-form storytelling. Generations of learners have used this exact series to break through intermediate listening.
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01The National Archives in Washington has released more than 2,800 secret files related to the killing of President John F.
02Kennedy.
03The release late Thursday of the Kennedy files was required by a 1992 law.
04However, President Donald Trump ordered that more than 200 of the files should temporarily remain secret until a review is completed.
05Some people had questioned whether Trump would permit the release of the documents.
06On Wednesday, he tweeted, The long-anticipated release of the JFK files will take place tomorrow.
07So interesting.
08But on Thursday, Trump said he had no choice but to accept recommendations to withhold some of the files.
09A Trump administration official said most of the recommendations had come from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA.
10Officials said Trump had given the agencies 180 days to explain why the remaining files should not be released.
11Larry Sabato, at the University of Virginia, is a historian and expert on Kennedy.
12Sabato said he was told that there was pressure on Trump to withhold some documents.
13He said documents generated in the 1990s could contain names of people who are still alive, and these were of concern to some people.
14President John F.
15Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in an open car through Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
16He died hours later.
17The killing of JFK, as Kennedy is often called, has probably led to more questions and doubts than any other political killing in American history.
18The details of the event have led to countless theories that there was a conspiracy.
19Books, documentaries, and at least one movie by director Oliver Stone, JFK, have put forward theories about who killed Kennedy and why.
20Secret Service agent Clint Hill was near the president on that day in November.
21He spoke about what he heard.
22I thought it must have been a fatal wound, but I didn't know for sure.
23The only thing Mrs.
24Kennedy said was, Oh, Jack, oh, Jack, what have they done?
25And then she said, Jack, I love you.
26Soon after the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the killing, but he denied involvement.
27Did you shoot the president?
28I didn't shoot anybody, no, sir.
29Oswald, however, was shot and killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby before a trial could take place.
30Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president immediately after Kennedy's death.
31Johnson soon established a commission to investigate the killing.
32The commission was chaired by then Chief Justice Earl Warren.
33It became known as the Warren Commission.
34In 1964, the commission completed its report, which said that Oswald had acted alone.
35The commission also tried to discredit what it called myths that were already spreading related to the assassination.
36But details about Oswald's travels before 1963 led many to believe others were involved.
37And they led to a new term describing popular beliefs and ideas about events that are hard to understand.
38Conspiracy Theories Among the details that have fueled conspiracy theories is the killing of Oswald, the main suspect.
39Another links Oswald with Cuban officials in Mexico City before the shooting.
40During Kennedy's time in office, the failed effort to overthrow the Cuban government had caused bad relations with the U.S.
41to worsen.
42Then, the Cuban Missile Crisis pushed the U.S., Cuba, and the Soviet Union close to war in 1962.
43Some people believed that Cuba's leader at the time, Fidel Castro, was involved in Kennedy's death.
44Oswald also was said to have spent years in the Soviet Union and then returned to the U.S.
45in 1962.
46For more than 50 years, these details and many others have kept people's attention and fueled more theories.
47Gerald Posner is the author of a 1993 book on the killing, Case Closed.
48He says the release of the documents could be embarrassing to people who are still alive.
49But he has said he does not think there will be anything shocking in them.
50But Sabato says the release could help history students understand the events of that time better.
51He said, finally, researchers will have all the information that the government has had and be able to re-evaluate the Kennedy assassination.
52The shooting is still in the living memory of millions of people.
53Census Bureau numbers show that about 49 million Americans were old enough to remember the event in Dallas.
54Some still have strong feelings about that time.
55The proportion of Americans believing in a conspiracy has ranged from 60% to 75%, said Sabato.
56Although many questions have been raised, no clear evidence has been found to show that Oswald did not act alone.
57Now, there are millions of additional pages for students to study.
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