In a move that’s sure to stir up decades-old controversies, Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of classified files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This executive order, signed on January 23, 2025, also includes the declassification of files on the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in his motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963, at the age of 46. His brother Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while running for president in California in 1968, just two months after Martin Luther King Jr., America’s most famous civil rights leader, was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Many documents related to the investigations have been released in the years since, although thousands remain redacted, particularly those associated with the sprawling JFK investigation.
President John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marine veteran who had defected to the Soviet Union and later returned to the United States.
A government commission established that Oswald acted alone.
The executive order states, and I quote: “More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the federal government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events.”
“Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” it added.
Trump has stated that “everything will be revealed,” a promise that has been met with both applause and criticism.
Trump has nominated Kennedy’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the health secretary in his new administration. Kennedy, whose father, Robert F Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968 while running for president, has said he is not convinced that a lone gunman was solely responsible for the assassination of his uncle, John F Kennedy, in 1963.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed gratitude to the president, emphasizing the need for transparency in an interview with NBC News.
However, JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, has voiced his disapproval, calling the move a political stunt.
In an X post, he said, “The truth is a lot sadder than the myth—a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme. Declassification is using JFK as a political prop when he’s not here to punch back. There’s nothing heroic about it.”
So, what will these files reveal? Will they confirm long-held suspicions or debunk conspiracy theories? One thing is certain: releasing these documents will reignite debates and discussions that have persisted for decades.
