1965 - What happened in 1965 ?

January 1965

Monday 04:

United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.

Tuesday 26:

Hindi becomes the official language of India.

February 1965

Tuesday 09:

Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.

Monday 15:

A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

Thursday 18:

The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

Saturday 20:

Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

Sunday 21:

Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.

March 1965

Sunday 07:

In Selma, Alabama, State troopers and local law enforcement forcefully break up a group of 600 civil rights marchers. The event was televised and was dubbed Bloody Sunday.

Monday 08:

Vietnam War: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.

Saturday 20:

1965 – In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).

Monday 22:

Bob Dylan "goes electric," releasing his first album featuring electric instruments, Bringing It All Back Home.

Thursday 25:

Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. complete successfully their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery.

April 1965

Sunday 11:

The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states killing 256 people.

Wednesday 14:

In Cold Blood killers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, convicted of murdering four members of the Herbert Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, are executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary For Men in Lansing, Kansas.

Wednesday 21:

The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.

Wednesday 28:

United States troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. citizens.

May 1965

Wednesday 12:

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

Thursday 20:

A Pakistani Airlines Boeing 720-B crashes on landing at Cairo airport, killing 121 people.

Thursday 27:

Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.

June 1965

Wednesday 02:

Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.

Thursday 03:

For 21 minutes, Edward H. White floats free outside the space vehicle Gemini IV for the first time.

Monday 07:

The US Supreme Court decides Griswold v. Connecticut effectivly legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.

Thursday 10:

Vietnam War: Battle of Dong Xoai begins.

Friday 18:

Vietnam War: The United States uses B-52 bombers to attack National Liberation Front guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam

July 1965

Wednesday 14:

Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet.

Friday 16:

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France with Italy opens.

Saturday 24:

Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are the targets of antiaircraft missiles in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other three sustain damage.

Wednesday 28:

Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

Thursday 29:

Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.

August 1965

Sunday 01:

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands announces her engagement to Claus von Amsberg.

Monday 09:

Space disasters: A fire at a Titan missile base near Little Rock, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.

Wednesday 11:

Race riots (the Watts riots) begin in Watts area of Los Angeles, California

Wednesday 18:

United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

Thursday 19:

Japanese prime minister Eisaku Sato becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa.

September 1965

Monday 06:

War of 1965: India attacks Pakistan and announces that its forces will capture Lahore (city of Pakistan) in an hour.

Tuesday 07:

Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlight, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Pirahna on the Batangan Peninsula.

Thursday 09:

Sandy Koufax throws a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs

Tuesday 14:

The opening of the fourth and final period of Second Vatican Council.

Thursday 30:

Civil unrest follows a failed coup attempt by Indonesia Communist Party (PKI). More than a million people died.

October 1965

Friday 15:

Vietnam War: The National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States.

Sunday 17:

The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes after a two year run. More than 51 million people had attended the two-year event.

Saturday 23:

The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleku Province in II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).

Tuesday 26:

The Beatles are appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs)

Saturday 30:

Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by wave after wave of Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions was found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.

November 1965

Saturday 06:

Freedom Flights begin: Cuba and the United States formally agree to start an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States. By 1971, 250,000 Cubans will take advantage of this program.

Tuesday 09:

Catholic Worker member Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.

Thursday 11:

Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) was declared independent by the white minority regime of Ian Smith.

Saturday 13:

The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau with the loss of 90 lives.

Sunday 14:

the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.

December 1965

Tuesday 07:

Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054

Friday 10:

The Grateful Dead play their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Saturday 18:

Japan and South Korea begin formal relations

Sunday 19:

Prisoners Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker escape from Pentridge Prison, Melbourne. During the escape a guard is killed. Ryan would hang for his death, in 1967.

Thursday 30:

Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines