Directory

1965 CE

The Vietnam War escalates as the United States begins Operation Rolling Thunder and sends ground troops; the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 breaks out over Kashmir before a UN ceasefire; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed, banning racial discrimination in voting; Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City; the Dominican Civil War prompts U.S. intervention; former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill dies at the age of ninety; cosmonaut Alexei Leonov makes the first spacewalk; the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 follow a failed coup, killing hundreds of thousands; and the Selma to Montgomery marches culminate in advancing federal voting protections.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 18 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.source
  • February 20 – Suat Hayri Ürgüplü forms the new (interim) government of Turkey (29th government).source
  • March 30 – The second ODECA charter, signed by Central American states on December 12, 1962, becomes effective.source
  • April 9 – The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes.source
  • May 1 – Bob Askin replaces Jack Renshaw as Premier of New South Wales.source
  • June 19 – Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky, head of the South Vietnamese Air Force, was appointed prime minister at the head of the military junta, with General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becoming a figurehead president, ending two years of short-lived military juntas.source
  • June 22 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed in Tokyo.source
  • July 15 – Greek Prime minister Georgios Papandreou and his government are dismissed by King Constantine II.source
  • July 27 – Edward Heath becomes Leader of the British Conservative Party.source
  • August 6 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices that have been responsible for widespread disfranchisement of African Americans.source
  • August 7 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, recommends the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia following a deterioration of PAP–UMNO relations, negotiating its separation with Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore.source
  • August 9 – Proclamation of Singapore: Singapore is expelled from the Federation of Malaysia, which recognises it as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew announces Singapore's independence and assumes the position of Prime Minister of the new island nation – a position he holds until 1990.source
  • September 9 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant negotiates with Pakistan President Ayub Khan.source
  • September 17 – King Constantine II of Greece forms a new government with Prime Minister Stephanos Stephanopoulos, in an attempt to end a 2-year-old political crisis.source
  • September 18 – Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin invites the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in the Soviet Union to negotiate.source
  • September 21 – Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.source
  • October 4 – Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London.source
  • October 13 – Congo President Joseph Kasavubu fires Prime Minister Moise Tshombe and forms a provisional government, with Évariste Kimba in a leading position.source
  • October 20 – Ludwig Erhard is re-elected Chancellor of West Germany (he had first been elected in 1963).source
  • November 11 – In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares de facto independence ('UDI').source
  • November 22 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • November 24 – Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousts Joseph Kasavubu and declares himself president.source
  • December 20 – The World Food Programme is made a permanent agency of the United Nations.source
  • December 31 – Bokassa takes power in the Central African Republic.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 2 – Vietnam War: Operation Rolling Thunder – The United States Air Force 2nd Air Division, United States Navy and South Vietnamese air force begin a 3-year aerial bombardment campaign against North Vietnam.source
  • March 7 – "Bloody Sunday": Some 200 Alabama State Troopers attack 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, as they attempt to march to the state capitol of Montgomery.source
  • March 8 – Vietnam War: Some 3,500 United States Marines arrive in Da Nang, South Vietnam, becoming the first American ground combat troops in Vietnam.source
  • March 9 – The "Turnaround Tuesday" march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., stops at the site of "Bloody Sunday", to hold a prayer service and return to Selma, in obedience to a court restraining order. On the same day, White supremacists attack three white ministers, leaving Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb in a coma.source
  • March 20 – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.source
  • April 24 – In the Dominican Republic, officers and civilians loyal to deposed President Juan Bosch mutiny against the right-wing junta running the country, setting up a provisional government. Forces loyal to the deposed military-imposed government stage a countercoup the next day, and civil war breaks out, although the new government retains its hold on power.source
  • April 24 – The bodies of Portuguese opposition politician Humberto Delgado and his secretary Arajaryr Moreira de Campos are found in a forest near Villanueva del Fresno, Spain (they were killed February 12).source
  • June 10 – Vietnam War – Battle of Dong Xoai: About 1,500 Viet Cong mount a mortar attack on Đồng Xoài, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound.source
  • June 19 – Houari Boumediene's Revolutionary Council ousts Ahmed Ben Bella, in a bloodless coup in Algeria.source
  • June 20 – Police in Algiers break up demonstrations by people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ahmed Ben Bella.source
  • July 24 – Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are targeted by antiaircraft missiles, in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other 3 sustain damage.source
  • August 11 – Racial rioting in the Los Angeles, California neighborhood of Watts breaks out after an African American motorist, Marquette Frye, is stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. Six days of unrest are quelled by over 14,000 members of the California National Guard. There are 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage. It is the largest and costliest urban rebellion of the Civil Rights movement.source
  • August 18 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite – 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quảng Ngãi Province, in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the U.S. base at Chu Lai.source
  • September 2 – Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula, 23 mi km south of the Chu Lai Marine base.source
  • September 19 – Pakistani Forces achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of Chawinda, ultimately halting the Indian advance and successfully stabilizing the Sialkot Front; it is the world's largest tank battle since the Battle of Kursk in the Second World War between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.source
  • September 20 – Vietnam War: An USAF F-104 Starfighter piloted by Captain Philip Eldon Smith is shot down by a Chinese MiG-19 Farmer. The pilot is held until March 15, 1973.source
  • September 22 – Radio Peking announces that Indian troops have dismantled their equipment on the Chinese side of the border.source
  • September 30 – The Indonesian army, led by General Suharto, crushes an alleged communist coup attempt (see Transition to the New Order and 30 September Movement).source
  • October 21 – The Organization of African Unity meets in Accra, Ghana.source
  • October 30 – Vietnam War: Near Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. A sketch of Marine positions is found on the dead body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.source
  • November 5 – Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The United Nations General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82–9.source
  • November 8 – Vietnam War – Operation Hump: The United States Army 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong.source
  • November 14 – Vietnam War – Battle of Ia Drang: In the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands in Vietnam, the first major engagement of the war between regular United States and North Vietnamese forces begins.source
  • November 27 – Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned major sweep operations to neutralize Viet Cong forces during the next year are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam will have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • October 10 – The first group of Cuban refugees travels to the U.S.source
  • December 15 – The Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) is formed.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place in London with the largest assembly of dignitaries in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.source
  • March 7 – Mass in the Catholic Church worldwide is said in local languages (rather than Latin) for the first time.source
  • April 18 – Consecration of Saint Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto, Canada.source
  • September 14 – The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opens.source
  • October 4 – Pope Paul VI makes the first papal visit to the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.source
  • October 8 – The 7 Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent are adopted at the XX International Conference in Vienna, Austria.source

Economy & Finance

  • October 17 – The New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected site park improvements fail to materialize.source
  • December 8 – Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith warns that Rhodesia will resist a trade embargo by neighboring countries with force.source
  • Hainzl Industriesysteme GmbH company is founded in Austria.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 23 – The Pennine Way officially opens.source
  • April 26 – Rede Globo is founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.source
  • July 16 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel, a highway tunnel between France and Italy, is inaugurated by presidents Charles de Gaulle and Giuseppe Saragat.source
  • August 30 – An avalanche buries a dam construction site at Saas-Fee, Switzerland, killing 90 workers.source
  • November 13 – British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan says "fuck" during a discussion on BBC satirical programme BBC-3 for what many believed was the first time on British television. The corporation later issues a public apology.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 4 – Trofim Lysenko is removed from his post as director of the Institute of Genetics at the Academy of Sciences in the Soviet Union. Lysenkoist theories are now treated as pseudoscience.source
  • February 15 – The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign flag.source
  • March 18 – Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov leaves his Voskhod 2 spacecraft for 12 minutes, becoming the first person to walk in space.source
  • March 23 – Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.source
  • April 3 – The world's first space nuclear power reactor, SNAP-10A, is launched by the United States from Vandenberg AFB, California. The reactor operates for 43 days and remains in low Earth orbit.source
  • April 6 – The Intelsat I ("Early Bird") communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.source
  • June 3 – Launch of Gemini 4, a 4 day mission during which Ed White performs the first space walk by an American astronaut.source
  • July 14 – U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.source
  • August 21 – NASA launches Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) on the first 1-week space flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power on such a mission.source
  • September 18 – Comet Ikeya–Seki is first sighted by Japanese astronomers.source
  • September 27 – The largest tanker ship at this time, Tokyo Maru, is launched in Yokohama, Japan.source
  • October 21 – Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 km mi from the sun.source
  • October 29 – An 80-kiloton nuclear device is detonated at Amchitka Island, Alaska, as part of the Vela Uniform program, code-named Project Long Shot.source
  • November 15 – U.S. racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mi/h km/h.source
  • November 16 – Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe from Baikonur, Kazakhstan toward Venus (on March 1, 1966, it becomes the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet).source
  • November 26 – At the Hammaguir launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant A rocket with its first satellite, Astérix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter outer space.source
  • November 29 – The Canadian satellite Alouette 2 is launched.source
  • December 15 – Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.source
  • December 21 – The Soviet Union announces that it has shipped rockets to North Vietnam.source
  • December 21 – The United Nations adopts the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 12 – A historic and extremely destructive tornado outbreak struck the Midwest region of the United States, killing 266.source
  • July 30 – War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.source
  • October 18 – The Indonesian government outlaws the Communist Party of Indonesia.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 21 – Malcolm X is gunned down while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.source
  • August 19 – At the conclusion of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, 66 ex-SS personnel receive life sentences, 15 others shorter ones.source
  • August 31 – U.S. President Johnson signs a law penalizing the burning of draft cards with up to 5 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.source
  • September 18 – In Denmark, Palle Sørensen shoots 4 policemen in pursuit; he is apprehended the same day.source
  • October 6 – Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from Hyde in Cheshire, is arrested for allegedly hacking to death (with a hatchet) 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans at a house on the Hattersley housing estate. He and his girlfriend Myra Hindley are subsequently identified as the perpetrators of the "Moors murders" of four young people aged from 10 to 16.source
  • October 8 – Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966: The Indonesian army instigates the arrest and execution of communists which last until next March.source
  • October 15 – Vietnam War: The Catholic Worker Movement stages an anti-war protest in Manhattan. One draft card burner is arrested, the first under the new law.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 20 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.source
  • May 28 – A mining accident in Dhanbad, India, kills 268.source
  • June 1 – A coal mine explosion in Fukuoka, Japan, kills 237.source
  • June 7 – Kakanj mine disaster: A mining accident in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, results in 128 deaths.source
  • June 25 – A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-135 Stratolifter bound for Okinawa crashes just after takeoff at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, California, killing all 85 on board.source
  • August 9 – An explosion at an Arkansas missile plant kills 53.source
  • August 9 – Indonesian president Sukarno collapses in public.source
  • October 4 – Durban rail accident: At least 150 are killed when a commuter train derails at the outskirts of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.source
  • November 1 – A trolleybus plunges into the Nile at Cairo, Egypt, killing 74 passengers.source
  • November 11 – United Airlines Flight 227 crashes short of the runway and catches fire at Salt Lake City International Airport, killing 43 out of 91 passengers and crew.source
  • November 13 – The burns and sinks 60 mi km off Nassau, Bahamas, with the loss of 90 lives.source

Climate & Environment

  • March 28 – At least 400 are killed or missing after an earthquake triggered a series of dam failures in La Ligua, Chile.source
  • September 28 – Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts, killing hundreds.source
  • October 7 – Seven Japanese fishing boats are sunk off Guam by Super Typhoon Carmen; 209 are killed.source

Culture & Society

  • January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.source
  • March 10 – An engagement is announced between Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven, who will become the first commoner and the first Dutchman to marry into the Dutch royal family.source
  • March 20 – "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall (music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 (staged in Naples) for Luxembourg.source
  • March 23 – The first issue of The Vigilant is published from Khartoum.source
  • March 25 – Martin Luther King Jr. and 25,000 civil rights activists successfully end the 4-day march from Selma, Alabama, to the capitol in Montgomery.source
  • April 5 – At the 37th Academy Awards, My Fair Lady wins 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Rex Harrison wins an Oscar for Best Actor. Mary Poppins takes home 5 Oscars. Julie Andrews wins an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role. Sherman Brothers receives 2 Oscars including Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee".source
  • May 9 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz returns to the stage after a 12-year absence, performing a legendary concert in Carnegie Hall in New York.source
  • May 25 – Muhammad Ali knocks out Sonny Liston in the first round of their championship rematch with the "Phantom Punch" at the Central Maine Civic Center in Lewiston.source
  • May 27 – Internazionale beats Benfica 1–0 at the San Siro, Milan and wins the 1964–65 European Cup in Association football.source
  • May 31 – Scottish racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, later this year winning the Formula One world driving championship.source
  • September 30 – The classic family sci-fi show Thunderbirds debuts on ITV in the United Kingdom.source
  • October 4 – The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.source
  • October 30 – English model Jean Shrimpton wears an above-the-knee white shift dress in Orlon to the Victoria Derby at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, causing a global sensation in women's fashion.source
  • December 5 – The "Glasnost Meeting" in Moscow becomes the first spontaneous political demonstration, and the first demonstration for civil rights in the Soviet Union.source
  • December 8 – The Race Relations Act becomes the first legislation to address racial discrimination in the UK.source
  • December 9 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first Peanuts television special, debuts on CBS in the United States. It becomes a Christmas tradition.source
  • December 21 – A new 1-hour German-American production of the ballet The Nutcracker, with an international cast that includes Edward Villella in the title role, makes its U.S. television debut. It is repeated annually by CBS over the next 3 years but after that is virtually forgotten until issued on DVD in 2009 by Warner Archive.source
  • December 25 – The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz.source

Births

  • January 15 – Adam Jones, American musician, guitarist of metal band Toolsource
  • January 20 – Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburghsource
  • February 5 – Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer, manager and club ownersource
  • February 12 – Brett Kavanaugh, American attorney and Supreme Court Justicesource
  • March 14 – Aamir Khan, Indian film director, producer, film and scriptwriter and actorsource
  • March 16 – Mark Carney, Canadian economist and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Canadasource
  • March 30 – Piers Morgan, British journalist and television personalitysource
  • June 16 – Andrea M. Ghez, American astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physicssource
  • August 28 – Satoshi Tajiri, Japanese video game designer and Pokémon creatorsource
  • September 14 – Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russiasource
  • September 26 – Petro Poroshenko, former President of Ukrainesource
  • October 6 – Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip and U.S. Representative of Louisiana's 1st districtsource
  • November 2 – Shah Rukh Khan, Indian actor, film/television producer and television presentersource
  • November 17 – Pam Bondi, American attorney and politician, 87th U.S. Attorney Generalsource

Deaths

  • January 4 – T. S. Eliot, American-British poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)source
  • January 14 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (b. 1903)source
  • February 21 – Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (b. 1925)source
  • March 19 – Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Romanian communist leader, 47th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1901)source
  • April 9 – Sherman Minton, American politician and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1890)source
  • April 21 – Sir Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)source
  • April 21 – Pedro Albizu Campos, advocate of Puerto Rican independence (b. 1891)source
  • August 13 – Hayato Ikeda, Japanese politician, 38th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1899)source
  • September 4 – Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician and missionary, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1875)source
  • October 13 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)source
  • October 22 – Paul Tillich, German American Christian existentialist philosopher and theologian (b. 1886)source
  • October 28 – Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, a "Declaration on the Relation of the (Roman Catholic) Church with Non-Christian Religions" by the Second Vatican Council which includes a statement that Jews are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus (Jewish deicide).source
  • November 12 – Taher Saifuddin, Indian Bohra spiritual leader (b. 1888)source
  • November 16 – W. T. Cosgrave, Irish politician, president of the Provisional Government and the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (b. 1880)source