President Trump has given the green light for the unveiling of any unrevealed records connected to the slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., committed by James Earl Ray. This pivotal move was made public on Thursday, Jan. 23, shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
In addition to the documents pertaining to King’s assassination, files regarding the murders of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy are also set to be made public. President Trump described this move as “a big one”, noting that numerous people have been anticipating this move for a considerable amount of time.
Dr. King, renowned as a civil rights champion, was tragically killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968. At the time, he was on the balcony of the old Lorraine Motel. King, 39, was quickly taken to a hospital where he succumbed to a gunshot wound to the neck, as reported by CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite on that fateful day.
The reason behind Trump’s decision to release the files on King’s assassination is transparency. At a rally in Washington, D.C., just before his inauguration, Trump stated his intention to restore “transparency and accountability to government”. He also expressed his administration’s commitment to overturn the excessive classification of government documents and, in the near future, make public the remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As for existing knowledge on King’s assassination, James Earl Ray, a perpetual criminal who had previously served jail time for robbery, had been on the run for 11 months after escaping from the Missouri State Penitentiary. On the afternoon of April 4, 1968, Ray rented a room near the Lorraine Motel under a false name. By early May, Ray was indicted and an international manhunt began. He was eventually captured at Heathrow Airport in London on June 8, 1968, extradited back to the U.S. the following month, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years.
Despite Ray’s conviction, there were speculations of FBI involvement in King’s murder, leading to further investigations. Although no evidence of FBI complicity was found, significant shortcomings were noted in the scope and method of the FBI’s post-assassination inquiry.
The Justice Department created a task force to investigate the FBI’s scrutiny and harassment of King and its potential influence on his assassination. The task force concluded that Ray acted alone, but also found that the FBI’s actions involving efforts to undermine King were probably felonious and should have been discontinued.
Thus far, the National Archives website contains information from the select committee’s investigation into King’s assassination, including their handling of Ray and the FBI’s surveillance of King, as well as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. However, it is yet to be clarified which of the assassination files are set to be released by Trump, or when they will be made public.
