Who was Amelia Earhart? All about the female aviation pioneer as President Trump orders declassification of her files

President Donald Trump recently ordered his administration to declassify the files of female aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. The president announced the news in a September 26 post on his Truth Social handle, claiming that he is being asked by "many people about the life and times" of Earhart.

"I have been asked by many people about the life and times of Amelia Earhart, such an interesting story, and would I consider declassifying and releasing everything about her, in particular, her last, fatal flight!"

Calling her life an "interesting story," the POTUS declared that he is ordering his administration to "declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart," including her "final trip, and everything else about her."

"Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," the president wrote.

Earlier in July 2025, Kimberlyn King-Hinds, a Republican representative from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, asked President Trump to declassify documents related to Amelia's disappearance.

Born on July 24, 1897, Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. At the time, she was traveling with navigator Fred Noonan in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra.

Amelia was born in Atchison, Kansas, to Edwin and Amy Earhart. After graduating from Hyde Park High School in 1915, Amelia worked as a nurse's aide in a military hospital in Canada during WWI and later as a social worker at Denison House. According to her biography, when she saw her first plane at the age of 10, she was unimpressed by it.

"It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting," she said.

However, in 1920, she attended an "air rodeo" in Long Beach, California, and a day later, she was given a ride by pilot Frank Hawks, which would "forever change her life."

"By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly," Amelia said.

More about Amelia Earhart

Sure, why not. pic.twitter.com/lSqLTiCmcG

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 26, 2025

Amelia Earhart took her first flying lesson on January 3, 1921, and purchased her first plane six months later, which she named "The Canary." Subsequently, in 1923, she earned her coveted aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, becoming the 16th woman to achieve the distinction.

In 1928, Amelia was invited to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airplane with pilot Wilmer Stultz and copilot Louis Gordon, which eventually made her a household name.

She later married publicist George Palmer Putnam on February 7, 1931, and they collaborated on a "secret plan" to make her the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, which she achieved in 1932, per her biography.

Among many other achievements, Amelia also became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California, in January 1935.

However, Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, after she and Noonan departed from Lae, New Guinea, flying to Howland Island.

Amelia Earhart was officially declared dead on January 5, 1939. Among the many theories about her disappearance, Dorothy Cochrane, curator of general aviation at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, called it "one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century," in a 2007 editorial for the museum's magazine.