Introduction

On Tuesday, approximately 80,000 pages of documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy are expected to be made public. This release follows a long-standing anticipation from historians and the public alike.

Timeline of Events

In his early days as president, Donald Trump took steps to order the declassification of files surrounding not just Kennedy but also his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The announcement was made during Trump’s visit to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2025.

Trump stated, ‘While we’re here, I thought it would be appropriate — we are, tomorrow, announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files. So, people have been waiting for decades for this.’

Reactions and Implications

Historians like Northwestern University’s Kevin Boyle believe that while these documents might not reveal significant new information, they could still provide insight into Kennedy’s assassination. ‘The remainder is not going to reveal … something new about John Kennedy’s assassination,’ he elaborated.

Additionally, Fredrik Logevall, a biographer of JFK, stated, ‘I do not believe the new information will dramatically overturn our understanding of what happened on that terrible day in Dallas.’ Nevertheless, there could be useful information that’s beneficial for historical context.

Future Releases

As for the remaining documents concerning RFK and MLK, no clear timeline has been provided for their release. Some files remain sealed until 2027 due to federal court orders.