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Introduction to the Published Documents

The assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is one of the most resounding sensations of the second half of the 20th century. The continuous stream of journalistic works, investigations, documentaries, and fictional films only confirms that interest in this event persists and will continue for many years. This topic is actively exploited not only for conspiratorial purposes, to fuel audience attention, gain fame, and make money, but also for political interests. The recent decree by D. Trump dated January 23, 2025, No. 14176, on the publication of classified materials related to the assassination of the 35th U.S. President, is largely tied to domestic political struggles in that country, raising questions about the permissiveness and lack of accountability of its special services.

In scholarly historiography, the topic of Kennedy’s assassination has long been established. It has not been overlooked by any serious researcher of Soviet-American relations in recent history. Particular attention has been paid by scholars to the causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as the history of the preparation and signing of the Moscow Treaty of 1963. It should be noted that the literature predominantly describes the U.S. perspective, as key American documents have long been publicly accessible in the National Archives of the United States² and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston³. Soviet documents, however, have largely remained inaccessible for a long time. To analyze Moscow’s position, researchers primarily relied on memoirs of Soviet diplomats and state figures, as well as the recollections of N.S. Khrushchev⁴, which, like all personal accounts, could not replace official documents.

Thanks to the recent publication of a three-volume collection of documents from the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU⁵, prepared by the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, this topic has been repeatedly illuminated in the works of domestic and foreign scholars. Recent studies deserving particular attention include the publications: Fursenko A.A., Naftali T., *Mad Risk: The Secret History of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962*, Moscow, 2016; and *Khrushchev’s Cold War: The Secret History of America’s Adversary*, Moscow, 2018.

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Footnotes:

² See: *The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection* | https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk
³ See: *Archival Collections* | https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/about-archival-collections