In a significant move toward government transparency, the Trump administration declassified approximately 80,000 pages of documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

During a visit to The Kennedy Center in Washington earlier this week, President Donald Trump remarked, “People have been waiting for decades for this. It’s going to be very interesting.”

The release follows a long-awaited push for full disclosure of assassination-related records. In January, Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to establish a plan for releasing documents concerning the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The order tasked the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General with developing a release strategy within 15 days for the JFK files and within 45 days for the others.

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order aiming to declassify remaining federal records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

According to Reuters, the National Archives and Records Administration, which has already published over six million pages of assassination-related documents, photographs, motion pictures, and audio recordings, made the latest batch of files public on Tuesday evening. The release included 1,123 newly declassified files. According to researchers, roughly 3,000 files had not been previously disclosed in full, and last month, the FBI revealed the discovery of about 2,400 additional records related to the assassination.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, while his motorcade passed through downtown Dallas. Gunfire erupted from the Texas School Book Depository building, where 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald had positioned himself on the sixth floor. Oswald was arrested hours later, only to be fatally shot two days afterward by nightclub owner Jack Ruby during a jail transfer.

FILE – In this Nov. 22, 1963 file photo, the limousine carrying mortally wounded President John F. Kennedy races toward the hospital seconds after he was shot in Dallas. (AP Photo/Justin Newman, File)

The Warren Commission, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, concluded that Oswald acted alone and found no evidence of a conspiracy. However, alternative theories have persisted for decades, fueling public curiosity and skepticism.

Experts caution that while the newly released files may offer additional context, they are unlikely to fundamentally change the established narrative. According to AP, Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, noted, “People want to make sense of this, and they want to find the solution that fits the crime.” Some researchers expect much of the material to be previously released documents with minor redactions.

Nonetheless, historians and analysts remain eager to examine sensitive information that had been withheld for decades. Some of the redacted content is believed to include intelligence regarding Cuba, as well as CIA operations relevant to Oswald.

Documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy are displayed after they were released following an order from U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington D.C., March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Photo illustration

The declassification process began in the early 1990s when Congress mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection within the National Archives. The collection was required to be fully opened by 2017 unless a sitting president invoked national security exemptions. While Trump initially pledged to release all remaining records during his first term, some files were withheld due to security concerns. The Biden administration continued the declassification process, though certain documents remain classified.

Beyond the JFK assassination files, the Trump administration also declassified records related to the 1968 assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.