One document from the newly released John F. Kennedy assassination files indicates that the Soviet Union feared an attack from the United States in the aftermath of the president's shooting, and secretly suspected then Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson of being complicit.
Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the new president created the Warren Commission in order to investigate the assassination. Only a small portion of the documents from that investigation have been released to the public, with the latest being released on Thursday.
One of the most recently released documents was prepared by then Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover. He prepared a report in 1966 cataloguing the Soviet response to the assassination for which Lee Harvey Oswald was ultimately deemed solely responsible. The intentional reaction from the Soviets was shock, Hoover reported, followed closely by rampant speculation.
One source said Soviet officials were "fearful that without leadership, some irresponsible general in the United States might launch a missile at the Soviet Union," leading the country to go into high alert.
The Soviets were also concerned anti-communists in the United States would latch onto the fact that Oswald visited the Soviet Union in the 1950s and attempted to defect. They feared the right was "interested in utilizing the assassination and playing on anticommunist sentiments in the United States."
At first, the Soviets were convinced the assassination was part of a "coup" being carried out by the "ultraright." However, two years later, they decided the responsible party was actually Kennedy's successor, Johnson.
In a September 1965 cable, Moscow asked their KGB agents in New York City to gather all possible information about Johnson, including information about his personal friends and family.
Per the FBI’s source, the KGB claimed to be in possession of data "purporting to indicate President Johnson was responsible for the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy," but went into no detail about exactly what evidence they had.
A Democrat from Texas, Johnson served as a congressman and senator before being elected Kennedy's vice president in 1960. He assumed the Office of the President in November of 1963 upon Kennedy's assassination, and was elected for another four year term in 1964.