President Trump called on the federal government on Friday to unseal all remaining classified files on the aviator Amelia Earhart and her disappearance nearly 90 years ago, which is still shrouded in mystery and wild conjecture.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said that he had been asked often about the “life and times of Amelia Earhart,” who in 1937 was attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world when her plane was lost over the Pacific Ocean. Most historians believe she vanished after running out of fuel and crashing over the Pacific Ocean. A U.S. Navy report concluded she was lost at sea.
“Amelia made it almost three quarters around the World before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished, never to be seen again,” Mr. Trump wrote, adding that the story of her vanishing “has captivated millions.”
It was not immediately clear how many records connected to Earhart were still classified or which federal agencies possessed them.
The White House did not immediately answer questions about the scope of records or say where they were located.
Mindi Love Pendergraft, executive director of the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Atchison, Kan., said in an email on Friday that she was surprised by the president’s announcement.
“If these records shed any light on Earhart’s fate, it is a welcome action for Earhart historians and enthusiasts,” Ms. Love Pendergraft said.
She noted that the 18-day search for Earhart after her disappearance cost more than $4 million, the most expensive in the history of the federal government at the time.
“Many theories exist regarding what may have happened to Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan,” Ms. Love Pendergraft said. “While some speculate that she simply ran out of gas and crashed into the vast Pacific Ocean, others believe she encountered a more nefarious outcome. It certainly is exciting to think that they could contain new information to solve this mystery, and we can focus more attention on Earhart’s many accomplishments inside and outside of aviation.”
A large collection of materials on Earhart, maintained by the National Archives, is already public.
It includes a report by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard on the search for Earhart, who vanished in her Lockheed 10-E Electra near Howland Island.
Deck logs from the ships involved in the search, radio messages and correspondence from Navy officials are also part of the collection.
Mr. Trump has vowed to use his presidential powers to release documents about historical figures that have captivated attention from the public as well as conspiracy theorists. Since returning to the White House, he also ordered the release of all government records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.