Trump Orders Declassification of Amelia Earhart Records to Reopen a 90-Year Mystery

26 September 2025

Amelia Earhart; Donald Trump. Credit : Bettmann Archive/Getty; Chip Somodevilla/Getty

President Donald Trump has instructed his administration to declassify and release all U.S. government records related to Amelia Earhart’s disappearance nearly ninety years after the pioneering aviator vanished during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

In a post on his social media platform, Trump wrote that many people had asked him about the documents connected to Earhart’s final flight and “everything else about her,” calling her disappearance “such an interesting story.” He said that the public deserves transparency and that he is ordering his administration to release whatever classified files remain.

The push for disclosure gained momentum after Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds, representing the Northern Mariana Islands, formally urged Trump to release records. She highlighted that some elderly island residents claimed they had seen Earhart on Saipan and called the case especially relevant to her constituents. King-Hinds compared the importance of these files to the declassified archives on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Some prior government files have already been made public, including FBI documents that refute conspiracy theories suggesting Earhart was a spy or held captive. Nonetheless, researchers and enthusiasts have long speculated that additional, unseen records might still exist.

Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, while flying from New Guinea to Howland Island with navigator Fred Noonan. She radioed that they were running low on fuel, but despite extensive naval and aerial searches she and Noonan were never located and were later declared lost at sea.

Critics of the move suggest that much of the relevant material may already be in the public domain or heavily redacted. Some historians say the remaining files, if they exist, are unlikely to overturn prevailing theories about her fate. Still, the announcement has stirred renewed interest in expeditions, research, and public discourse around one of aviation’s greatest enduring mysteries.

By ordering the declassification, Trump joins a pattern of issuing directives to disclose government archives from high profile historical events—he previously enacted an order that released files related to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK. Some observers see this latest action as an attempt to shift attention amid more contentious disclosures, such as those connected to Jeffrey Epstein.

Still, for many Earhart enthusiasts and historians, the decision carries symbolic resonance. It signals a willingness to confront lingering uncertainties and revisit unanswered questions: Where did Earhart’s plane ultimately go? Was there human error, mechanical failure, or external interference? Could island landings or recoveries have occurred unrecorded? The declassification order raises the possibility of new insights, even if dramatic revelations are unlikely.