President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to declassify documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
BREAKING: President Trump has signed an executive order declassifying the JFK, MLK files. pic.twitter.com/xAWUvw9xHK
— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) January 23, 2025
The move is intended to bring transparency to some of the most pivotal and controversial events in American history, potentially answering decades-old questions and speculation surrounding these high-profile assassinations, according to Fox News.
Dr. Michael Baden, a renowned forensic pathologist who worked on the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s, has weighed in on the significance of this decision.
“The various conspiracy theories and other criticisms of the investigation continued and arose after our report and have been amplified by the fact that the entire report was never released by the investigation conducted by Congress,” Baden told Fox News.
“Expectations are that the 14,000 documents that will be released by President Trump may shed a light on the various mistakes or disinformation that have circulated since,” he added.
He highlighted that while a substantial number of documents regarding the JFK assassination have already been released, the remaining classified files could provide critical new insights.
According to Baden, these unreleased files may shed light on the activities and associations of individuals like Lee Harvey Oswald in the months leading up to President Kennedy’s assassination.
Oswald, the alleged assassin of President Kennedy, traveled to Mexico City before the assassination, reportedly visiting both the Cuban and Soviet embassies.
Dr. Baden suggests that the declassification might reveal additional details about these trips, including whether Oswald interacted with foreign agents or intelligence operatives. Such revelations could either bolster or discredit longstanding theories about foreign involvement or conspiracy in the assassination.
“Our panel concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from a rifle at the president. The first one struck a curb. The second one struck him in the upper back. And the third and continued through Governor John Connally,” Dr. Baden said. “The bullet was recovered in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. The third bullet is the one that struck the president in the head and was recovered and part was broken up near the front seat of the car and on the floor.”
Baden said that the initial autopsy done on JFK’s body was conducted poorly because the doctor who was responsible for carrying out the report had little experience in autopsies.
“Nine chief medical examiners from around the country reviewed the autopsy report, which was poorly done,” Dr. Baden said. “The initial autopsy report was faulty because it was performed by Dr. Humes, who did not have any experience in doing homicide autopsies.”
While working on the House Select Committee, Baden and nine other medical examiners concluded that Oswald acted alone.
“We agreed in our investigation that there were many flaws in his autopsy, mainly that he did not recognize that there was a gunshot wound in the back that had exited through the neck. And that was the bullet that struck Governor Connally,” he said. “And this led to immediate conspiracy theories that there had to be at least two shooters, one shooting from the back and one shooting from the front because there were two holes.”
“And our investigation, looking at all the available information, which we thought was sufficient, was that he was shot at twice,” Dr. Baden said. “I don’t think there’ll be anything in those 14,000 documents that would be contrary to that, although we don’t know what will be found.”
Baden also theorized that the Italian Mafia hired Oswald to kill the president.
“There was a feeling that he [Kennedy] would be lenient to the organized crime in the mafia because they helped him win over Illinois, which was a critical state in the election,” he said. “But when John Kennedy initiated a very effective investigation into organized crime, there is a feeling that there was motive to hurt the president.”
In addition to focusing on Oswald, the declassification is expected to reveal more about how U.S. government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, conducted their investigations during that era.
Another area of potential interest is the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, who was shot and killed in 1968 while running for president.
Questions about the role of Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of RFK’s assassination, and whether there were additional participants in the attack, have fueled speculation for decades.
Similarly, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 has been surrounded by doubts, including debates about whether James Earl Ray, the man convicted of King’s murder, acted alone or as part of a broader plot.
President Trump’s decision to release these documents aligns with his administration’s focus on promoting government transparency.
Supporters of the move argue that it will allow Americans to form a clearer picture of these historical events and provide answers to unresolved questions. Critics, however, worry that some documents may still be heavily redacted or fail to provide definitive conclusions.
Dr. Baden expressed hope that the declassification will address lingering uncertainties and allow historians and the public to gain a more complete understanding of these defining moments in American history.
The files could offer critical details that bridge gaps in the historical record, shedding light on the individuals, motives, and circumstances behind these assassinations. For many, this effort represents a long-overdue step toward transparency and accountability in the wake of these tragedies.
