JFK Assassination Files Released More Than 60 Years Later

President Donald Trump has ordered the release of the remaining classified files related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). The National Archives published approximately 80,000 pages of documents on Tuesday, March 18, marking a major declassification effort decades in the making.

While the files can be accessed in person or through analog media formats at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, not all were immediately available online. The agency confirmed plans to digitize and publish the records on its website in the coming months.

The disclosure follows years of delays under multiple administrations. During Trump’s first term, the full release of the JFK files was anticipated but never materialized. His successor, former President Joe Biden, released a portion of the records but withheld others, citing national security concerns.

Now in his second term, Trump has also ordered the unsealing of documents related to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The assassinations of these three figures—JFK in November 1963, King in April 1968, and RFK two months later in June 1968—defined one of the most turbulent political periods in American history.

While conspiracy theories have persisted for decades, many historians remain skeptical that the newly released files will provide groundbreaking revelations.

On January 19, the day before his second inauguration, Trump pledged to release all remaining classified records related to the three assassinations. Shortly after being sworn in as the 47th president, he signed an executive order authorizing the full disclosure of these documents.

“As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over-classification of government documents,” Trump stated during a rally in Washington, D.C.

The delays in releasing the files since Trump’s original 2017 promise have been attributed to extensive government reviews. David Ferriero, former Archivist of the United States, previously explained that agencies required time to ensure that the maximum amount of information could be made public while still protecting sensitive intelligence sources.

Reactions from the Kennedy Family

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long championed theories suggesting government involvement in his uncle’s assassination, has been vocal in his frustration over the withheld records.

Speaking to PEOPLE in 2021, he criticized the ongoing secrecy, saying, “They should just release the records. It’s been 58 years. Are they seriously telling us they haven’t had time to read them?”

JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, has taken a different stance, dismissing the declassification as a political maneuver that would ultimately disappoint conspiracy theorists. “The truth is [a lot] sadder than the myth—a tragedy that didn’t need to happen,” Schlossberg stated on social media, arguing that JFK’s assassination was not part of a grand conspiracy.

As the newly declassified documents become available for public scrutiny, historians, analysts, and the American public will now have the opportunity to assess whether they contain previously unknown details—or simply reinforce the official accounts that have stood for decades.