The long-sealed files on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are set to be released next week. There are said to be upward of 3,000 documents never seen by the public in the top-secret folder.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Cecil Stoughton
Advertisement
US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would not block the release of the long-classified files relating to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
"Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened," Trump wrote on Twitter.
Under a 1992 law, the documents were scheduled to be released 25 years later, unless the sitting president felt that their release would harm intelligence, national security or foreign relations.
Pivotal event
The National Archives now has until Thursday to make the more than 3,000-document-thick pile available to the public.
President Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. He later succumbed to his wounds in a local hospital, one of the most pivotal events in US history.
Lee Harvey Oswald has long been considered the lone actor in the assassination, but that has not stopped decades of conspiracy theories — which even made it into the Hollywood mainstream in Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK."
Public demand for disclosure in the wake of the film prompted Congress to pass a 1992 law releasing millions of classified files.
However, the law placed 25-year hold on an estimated 3,100 secret documents.
Tens of thousands of files that were previously released were heavily redacted. The blacked out portions of those documents are also set to be declassified.
10 US presidents as seen by Hollywood
Over the years, US presidents have been the inspiration for many movies and TV shows. As Donald Trump takes on the role of 45th president of the US, DW looks back at famous portrayals, from Abraham Lincoln to JFK.
Image: picture alliance/United Archives/IFTN
Nixon on screen
Hollywood has Richard Nixon to thank for many of its iconic presidential screen portrayals. Among the best was Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins, who played the 37th US president in Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic, "Nixon." The politician's life has been particularly fascinating to directors, who have often captured him as a villainous persona on the silver screen.
Image: picture alliance/United Archives/IFTN
Early presidents
The very first US president, George Washington, was portrayed in the silent film era. But no president showed up on the silver screen as often as Abraham Lincoln. Here, Henry Fonda played the 16th president of the United States in the successful John Ford film "Young Mr. Lincoln," released in 1939.
Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as the president in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film, "Lincoln," was a triumph. Again - as with Hopkins' portrayal of Nixon nearly 20 years earlier - a Brit played an American president with a highly nuanced performance.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Playing for laughs
On film, US presidents are generally the subject of heroic dramas or sophisticated biopics. Playing the president as a source for laughter is rare. But as Theodore Roosevelt, actor Robin Williams (right, with Ben Stiller) proved the exception to that rule in the "Night at the Museum" series (2006, 2009, 2014).
Image: picture alliance/Zumapress
Presidents in crisis mode
It's been far more common to have US presidents appear in movies when Hollywood chooses to portray dramatic events and internal and external political crises. In 2001, Jon Voight played Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the film "Pearl Harbor," which dramatized the 1941 attack by the Japanese in Hawaii.
Image: picture alliance /United Archives
Not just the big stars
After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Harry S. Truman took on the job of the world's most powerful man. Fifty years later, actor Gary Sinise took on the role of the 33rd US president in the 1995 TV film "Truman." Next to major stars like Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis, many lesser known actors have also portrayed American presidents on screen.
Image: picture alliance/United Archives
President in a supporting role
Often, the actors playing the president were overshadowed by the film's main stars. Roger Donaldson's "Thirteen Days," released in 2000, is a prime example. In the dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as presidential adviser Kenny O'Donnell, superstar Kevin Costner (right) played the lead role. In a supporting role, Bruce Greenwood (center) played President John F. Kennedy.
No other president has offered actors as many possibilities as Richard Nixon. Even less familiar episodes from his political life have been committed to film. In 2008, Frank Langella played the 37th president in "Frost/Nixon," which showed the legendary interview with journalist and TV host David Frost.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Universal Pictures
'Two of America's greatest recording artists'
"Elvis & Nixon" traces the historic 1970 White House meeting between the US president and rock 'n' roll star Elvis Presley. In the 2016 film, Nixon is played by Kevin Spacey - an actor who brought a lot of presidential experience to the role.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Diabolic and fascinating
Since 2013, Spacey has portrayed the fictional US President Francis Underwood in the Netflix series "House of Cards." Spacey is perhaps one of the best-known actors to play a fictional president in cinema and TV. But that remains a subject for another gallery - the list of fictional presidents is at least as long as the number of films featuring real US leaders.
