U.S. Gov't Releases 230,000 Pages on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United States government has released over 230,000 pages of documents related to the 1968 assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

The release follows a directive from President Donald Trump, who previously ordered the declassification of files related to the killings of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

According to CBS News, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) stated that this is the first time the King files have been published online in a single, comprehensive collection with minimal redactions.

While some of the documents had previously been made available through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, they had not been released in full.

King’s archive has been sealed by court order since 1977, when the FBI first transferred the materials to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The release comes after the National Archives also declassified documents on JFK’s 1963 assassination in March and files on Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 killing in April.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and died in prison in 1998. However, members of King’s family have long expressed doubts about Ray’s involvement.

‘Buried for Decades’

ODNI noted that the documents, totaling over 230,000 pages, had never been digitized and had been “collecting dust” in various government facilities for decades.

The collection includes FBI internal memos on the investigation’s progress, intelligence about possible leads, and records on Ray’s former cellmate. There are also CIA documents detailing the international manhunt for Ray, who had fled abroad before being captured and pleading guilty.

Although Ray confessed and received a 99-year sentence, he later recanted and maintained his innocence until his death.

"The American people have waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government's investigation into Dr King's assassination," said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a statement.

ODNI confirmed that King’s family was given early access to the documents two weeks before their public release.

King Family’s Response

Despite being granted early access, some members of the King family opposed the release.

In a statement issued Monday, Martin Luther King Jr.'s two surviving children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, described their father's assassination as a “captivating public curiosity for decades.”

However, they stressed the deeply personal nature of the loss and urged that the files “be viewed within their full historical context.”

In a statement released through The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the family condemned the FBI’s surveillance of Dr. King under then-Director J. Edgar Hoover.

They characterized the operation as “invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign,” describing it as a deliberate attempt to discredit both King and the civil rights movement.

The campaign, they said, was designed to “discredit, dismantle and destroy Dr. King’s reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement.” They added, “These actions were not only invasions of privacy, but intentional assaults on the truth.”

Conflicting Conclusions

The family also referenced a 1999 civil ruling by a Tennessee court, which found that a man named Loyd Jowers and several conspirators, including government agencies, were responsible for King’s murder.

This stands in contrast to the findings of the U.S. government. The Department of Justice concluded in both 1977 and 2000 that James Earl Ray was the sole perpetrator.

Additionally, the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations in the late 1970s concluded that King’s death was likely the result of a conspiracy involving Ray, but found no direct evidence of government involvement.

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