US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to declassify all government documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
“That’s a big one, huh? A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump remarked on Thursday while signing the order in the White House’s Oval Office. “Everything will be revealed.”
Following the signing, Trump passed the pen he used to an aide, saying, “Give that to RFK Jr.,” referring to his nominee for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
In recent years, the National Archives has released tens of thousands of documents concerning President Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963. However, some files were withheld due to national security concerns. As of the most recent release in December 2022, 97% of the records related to Kennedy’s assassination—totaling about five million pages—have been made public.
The Warren Commission, which investigated Kennedy’s death, concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine sharpshooter, acted alone. Despite this, the official narrative has not completely dispelled suspicions of a larger conspiracy, with numerous theories circulating regarding the true masterminds behind the assassination. The government’s delayed release of related documents has further fueled these theories.
At the time of the December 2022 release, President Joe Biden stated that a few documents would remain classified due to requests from unspecified “agencies.” The CIA and FBI have previously sought to withhold certain materials.
Trump’s first term saw the release of several Kennedy-related documents, although he too kept some back for national security reasons. Experts suggest that the remaining unreleased records are unlikely to contain any earth-shattering revelations.
Kennedy’s assassination sparked numerous conspiracy theories, many involving Cold War adversaries like the Soviet Union and Cuba, as well as the Mafia and even Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Oswald was killed two days after the assassination by nightclub owner Jack Ruby while being transferred from jail.
Robert F. Kennedy, a former attorney general and U.S. senator, was shot in June 1968 during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Palestinian-born Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of his murder and is serving a life sentence in California.
In April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder, but King’s family has expressed doubts about his role in the killing. Ray died in prison in 1998.
