Trump Orders Release of Amelia Earhart Records
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that he would direct his administration to “declassify and release” all government documents related to Amelia Earhart, the trailblazing aviator who vanished during a flight over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.
Earhart made history in 1932 as the first woman—and only the second person after Charles Lindbergh—to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic. Just five years later, at the age of 39, she disappeared while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, leading to numerous theories and accounts surrounding her fate.
“I am ordering the administration to declassify and release all government records about Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else related to her,” Trump stated in his post. “She was an aviation pioneer, achieving many significant firsts.” He further noted that Earhart “vanished in the South Pacific while striving to become the first woman to fly around the world, an expedition that left three-quarters of the globe behind her before she disappeared.”
Kimverlin King Hins, a Republican representative from the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory located in the Pacific, had previously sent a letter to Trump on July 9, urging him to declassify the Earhart records. “If such a record existed, its release would significantly enhance understanding of one of America’s most respected aviators and shed light on her final chapter,” she wrote, emphasizing the importance of transparency regarding her legacy.
Mindi Love PenderGraft, Executive Director of the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum, called Trump’s decision a “welcomed action for Earhart historians and enthusiasts,” suggesting that the records could clarify what truly happened to the famous aviator.
Trump’s decision to declassify these records adds to a series of actions taken during his second term aimed at resolving long-standing mysteries about iconic figures. Earlier, in July 2025, National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard released over 230,000 pages of documents related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She had also announced in April the declassification of records linked to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, which occurred in 1968.
As of now, the White House has not commented on this recent announcement.
