Professor explains why JFK files were kept secret for 62 years as readers have same response to the declassification

After 62 conspiracy-laden years, the John F Kennedy assassination files were declassified this week.

Actioned by US President Donald Trump in a bid to introduce unprecedented transparency across his country's socio-political landscape, these potentially incendiary documents disappointed readers on the whole, even if the odd revelation did show its face.

JFK was assassinated on 22 November 1963 while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The suspected shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, was shot himself two days later, and questions have lingered over whether Oswald acted alone, or if he had any affiliation to the USSR, where he lived for two years.

While experts suspect few of the newly released documents contain new information, they confirm that Oswald was likely not controlled by the KGB. One file ironically described him as 'a poor shot when he tried target firing'.

But with no bombshell details in the latest release, why did it take so long for the public to access it?

The JFK files were kept under lock and key for over 60 years (Bettmann/Getty)

Professor Tim Naftali from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University has told The New York Times exactly why they were kept from public consumption for so long.

Upon sifting through these juicy files, Naftali was left convinced that the details were hidden in order to preserve intelligence-gathering systems employed by the CIA.

"I've always been wary that there was a smoking gun in this collection because Trump would have released it in 2017. What they were protecting was sources and methods," he explained to the publication.

Trump, who recently stunned the world with his real laugh in a resurfaced clip, announced his intention to release the JFK files from the National Archive at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

He told the media in Washington DC: "We have a tremendous amount of paper. You got a lot of reading. I don't believe we're going to redact anything.

"They've been waiting for that for decades. And I said during the campaign I'd release them, and I'm a man of my word... so tomorrow you have the JFK files."

Donald Trump managed to disappoint his countrymen with the details made available (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Although the 78-year-old kept his promise, many people on social media were left underwhelmed by the details on show.

One person wrote: "I'm quickly going through the JFK files to see if we would get everything unredacted like promised. We have not."

"Most of these documents were marked 'safe' for declassification YEARS ago. There is nothing here. Where are the 'exempt' and 'excluded' JFK files?" asked someone else.

A third pointed out: "Today, the final 80,000 JFK assassination documents were supposed to be declassified. Instead, we got a pathetic trickle - just over 1,000 files, most of them already known, heavily redacted, or long marked for release.

"A smokescreen of transparency, carefully curated to reveal nothing of substance."

Despite this minor outrage, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was quick to praise the President for his decision.

"President Trump is ushering in a new era of maximum transparency. Today, per his direction, previously redacted JFK Assassination Files are being released to the public with no redactions. Promises made, promises kept," she shared on social media.