They were three assassinations that sparked conspiracy theories which have lasted for decades. But Donald Trump has now signalled plans for the release of key documents on the killings of John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Announcing the move, the newly returned US President told reporters at the Oval Office: “A lot of people are waiting for this for long, for years, for decades.
“And everything will be revealed.”
The order directs top administration officials to present a plan to declassify the documents within 15 days – though this does not make it certain it will happen.
President John F Kennedy was killed in Dallas in 1963.
His brother Robert F Kennedy was assassinated while running for president in California 1968, just two months after King, America’s most famous civil rights leader, was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Many of the documents related to the investigations have been released in the years since, although thousands still remain redacted, particularly related to the sprawling JFK investigation – the most enduringly controversial of the three.
Repeated investigations concluded that 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 determined that Oswald acted alone.
However, unanswered questions have long dogged the case, and have given rise to alternative theories about the involvement of government agents, the mafia and other nefarious characters – as well as more outlandish conspiracy theories.
Opinion polls over decades have indicated that most Americans don’t believe Oswald was the sole assassin.
In 1992, Congress passed a law to release all documents related to the investigation within 25 years.
Both Mr Trump in his first term and President Joe Biden released piles of JFK-related documents, but thousands – out of a total of millions – still remain partially or fully secret.
Mr Trump promised to declassify all of the files in his first term, but held back on his promise after CIA and FBI officials persuaded him to keep some files secret. The new executive order states that continued secrecy “is not consistent with the public interest”.
Recent document releases have revealed new details about the circumstances surrounding the assassination, including about the CIA’s extensive monitoring of Oswald who himself was later shot dead by Jack Ruby.
In 2023, Paul Landis, an 88-year-old former Secret Service agent who witnessed the assassination at close range, said he took a bullet from the car after Kennedy was shot.
During the signing ceremony at the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump asked for the pen he used to sign the order to be given to Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is RFK’s son, JFK’s nephew and the president’s nominee for health secretary.
RFK Jr has long cast doubt on the official narratives about his uncle’s assassination as well as that of his father, Robert F Kennedy.
Kennedy Sr was killed in a Los Angeles ballroom by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian man angry at US support for Israel.
RFK Jr has spoken to Sirhan in prison and has stated that he does not believe Sirhan killed his father, although other Kennedy family members reject that claim.
Martin Luther King Jr was shot to death by white nationalist James Earl Ray. Members of the King family have alleged Ray did not act alone and was part of a larger conspiracy.
