January
Main article: January 1965
January 1 – The ship SS Catala is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, stranding it.
January 4 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address.
January 9 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
January 12 – Wanda Beach Murders: The bodies of two 15-year-olds, Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt, are found at Wanda Beach, Sydney.
January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
January 19 – The unmanned Gemini 2 is launched on a suborbital test of various spacecraft systems.
January 20
Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President.
Indonesian President Sukarno announces the withdrawal of the Indonesian government from the United Nations.
January 26 – Anti-Hindi agitations break out in India, because of which Hindi does not get "National Language" status and remains one of the 23 official languages of India.
January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place with the largest assembly of statesmen in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.[1]
February
Main article: February 1965
February 6 – Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
February 12 – The African and Malagasy Common Organization (Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache; OCAM) is formed as successor to the Afro-Malagasy Union for Economic Cooperation (Union Africaine et Malgache de Cooperation Economique; UAMCE), formerly the African and Malagasy Union (Union Africaine et Malgache; UAM)).
February 15 – A new red and white maple leaf design is inaugurated as the flag of Canada, replacing the Union Flag and the Canadian Red Ensign.
February 18 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
February 20
Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
Suat Hayri Ürgüplü forms the new (interim) government of Turkey (29th government).
February 21 – African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City.
February 22 – A new, revised, color production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella airs on CBS. Lesley Ann Warren makes her TV debut in the title role. The show becomes an annual tradition.
The newly adopted Flag of Canada
Flag of the newly independent Gambia
March
Main article: March 1965
March 2 – The Sound of Music premieres at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.
March 7 – Bloody Sunday: Some 200 Alabama State Troopers clash with 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama.
March 8 – Vietnam War: Some 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
March 9 – The second attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., stops at the bridge that was the site of Bloody Sunday, to hold a prayer service and return to Selma, in obedience to a court restraining order. White supremacists beat up white Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb later that day in Selma.
March 10
Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured 12 days after her escape.
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.
March 11 – White Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb, beaten by White supremacists in Selma, Alabama on March 9 following the second march from Selma, dies in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
March 15 – President Lyndon B. Johnson makes his "We Shall Overcome" speech.
March 16 – Police clash with 600 SNCC marchers in Montgomery, Alabama.
March 17
In Montgomery, Alabama, 1,600 civil rights marchers demonstrate at the Courthouse.
In response to the events of March 7 and 9 in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon B. Johnson sends a bill to Congress that forms the basis for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is passed by the Senate May 26, the House July 10, and signed into law by President Johnson August 6.
March 18
Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
A United States federal judge rules that SCLC has the lawful right to march to Montgomery, Alabama to petition for 'redress of grievances'.
March 19 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, reputed to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser ever built, is discovered off the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, by teenage diver E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after she was sunk with a million dollar cargo, while attempting to run past the Union blockade into Charleston.
March 20
Poupée de cire, poupée de son, sung by France Gall (music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 for Luxembourg.
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.
March 21
Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 civil rights activists in the third march from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery.
March 22 – Nicolae Ceaușescu becomes the first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party.
March 23
Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
The first issue of The Vigilant is published from Khartoum.
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.
March 30
Funeral services are held for Detroit homemaker Viola Liuzzo, who was shot dead by 4 Klansmen as she drove marchers back to Selma at night after the civil rights march.
The second ODECA charter, signed on 12 December 1962, becomes effective.
April
Main article: April 1965
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.
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 portrayal in the role. Sherman Brothers receives 2 Oscars including Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee".
April 6
The Early Bird communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.
The British Government announces the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project.
April 9
The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes.
In Houston, the Harris County Domed Stadium (more commonly known as the Astrodome) opens.
Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang appear on the cover of Time.
April 11 – The 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak: An estimated 51 tornadoes (47 confirmed) hit in 6 Midwestern states, killing between 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.
April 14 – In Cold Blood killers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, convicted of murdering 4 members of the Herbert Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, are executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary for Men in Lansing, Kansas.
April 17 – The first SDS march against the Vietnam War draws 25,000 protestors to Washington, DC.
April 18 – Consecration of Saint Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto, Canada.
April 21 – The New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, reopens.
April 23 – The Pennine Way officially opens.
April 24
The 1965 Yerevan demonstrations start in Yerevan, demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
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).
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.
April 25 – Teenage sniper Michael Clark kills 3 and wounds others shooting at cars from a hilltop along Highway 101 just south of Orcutt, California. Sixteen year old Clark kills himself as police rush the hilltop.
April 28
U.S. troops occupy the Dominican Republic.
Vietnam War: Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies announces that the country will substantially increase its number of troops in South Vietnam, supposedly at the request of the Saigon government (it is later revealed that Menzies had asked the leadership in Saigon to send the request at the behest of the Americans).
April 29 – Australia announces that it is sending an infantry battalion to support the South Vietnam government.
May
Main article: May 1965
May 1
Bob Askin replaces Jack Renshaw as Premier of New South Wales.
The Battle of Dong-Yin occurs as a conflict between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.
Liverpool wins the FA Cup Final, beating Leeds Utd 2–1.
May 5 – Forty men burn their draft cards at the University of California, Berkeley, and a coffin is marched to the Berkeley Draft Board.
May 6 – A tornado outbreak near the Twin Cities in Minnesota kills 13 and injures 683.
May 7 – The U.S. Steel freighter SS Cedarville collides with the SS Topdalsfjord and sinks near the Mackinac Bridge, killing 25. 10 are rescued from the Cedarville, the 3rd largest lake ship to sink after its sister the SS Carl D. Bradley, and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
May 9 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz returns to the stage after a 12-year absence, performing a legendary concert in Carnegie Hall in New York.
May 12
West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
The Italian liner T/S Michelangelo enters into service.
May 13 – A West German court of appeals condemns the behavior of ex-defense minister Franz Josef Strauss during the Spiegel scandal.
May 21 – The largest antiwar teach-in to date begins at Berkeley, California, attended by 30,000.
May 22 – The first skateboard championship is held. In addition, several hundred Vietnam War protesters in Berkeley, California, march to the Draft Board again to burn 19 more cards. Lyndon Johnson is hung in effigy.
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.
May 29 – A mining accident in Dhanbad, India kills 274.
May 31 – Racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, and later wins the Formula One world driving championship in the same year.
June
Main article: June 1965
Green Library at Florida International University in Miami, FL
June 1
Florida International University is founded in Miami.
A coal mine explosion in Fukuoka, Japan kills 237.
June 2 – Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
June 3 – Gemini 4: Astronaut Edward Higgins White makes the first U.S. space walk.
June 7 – A mining accident in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, results in 128 deaths.
June 10 – Vietnam War – Battle of Dong Xoai: About 1,500 Vietcong mount a mortar attack on Đồng Xoài, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound.
June 16 – A planned anti-Vietnam War protest at The Pentagon becomes a teach-in, with demonstrators distributing 50,000 leaflets in and around the building.
June 19 – Houari Boumediene's Revolutionary Council ousts Ahmed Ben Bella, in a bloodless coup in Algeria.
June 20 – Police in Algiers break up demonstrations by people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella.
June 22 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed in Tokyo.
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.
July
Main article: July 1965
July – The Commonwealth secretariat is created.
July 14 – U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.
July 15 – Greek Prime minister Georgios Papandreou and his government are dismissed by King Constantine II.
July 16 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel is inaugurated by presidents Giuseppe Saragat and Charles de Gaulle.
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.
July 25 – Bob Dylan elicits controversy among folk purists by "going electric" at the Newport Folk Festival.
July 26 – The Maldives receive full independence from Great Britain.
July 27 – Edward Heath becomes Leader of the British Conservative Party.
July 28 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000, and to more than double the number of men drafted per month - from 17,000 to 35,000.
July 30 – War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
August
Main article: August 1965
August 1 – Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.
August 6 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
August 7 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, recommends the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, negotiating its separation with Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore.
August 9
Singapore is expelled from the Federation of Malaysia, which recognizes it as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew announces Singapore's independence and assumes the position of Prime Minister of the new island nation.
An explosion at an Arkansas missile plant kills 53.
Indonesian president Sukarno collapses in public.
August 11 – The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles.
August 13 – The rock group Jefferson Airplane debuts at the Matrix in San Francisco and begins to appear there regularly.
August 15 – The Beatles perform the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing before 55,600 persons at Shea Stadium in New York City.
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.
August 19 – At the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt, 66 ex-SS personnel receive life sentences, 15 others smaller ones.
August 20 – Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from Keene, New Hampshire, is murdered in Hayneville, Alabama while working in the American civil rights movement.
August 21 – Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) is launched on the first 1-week flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power.
August 30
Casey Stengel announces his retirement after 55 years in baseball.
Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album Highway 61 Revisited, featuring the song "Like a Rolling Stone".
An avalanche buries a dam construction site at Saas-Fee, Switzerland, killing 90 workers.
August 31 – President Johnson signs a law penalizing the burning of draft cards with up to 5 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.
September
Main article: September 1965
September 2 – Pakistani troops enter the Indian sector of Kashmir, while Indian troops try to invade Lahore.
September 6 – The Islamic Republic of Pakistan observes its Defence Day, on account of successful defence of Lahore and other important areas against India.
September 7
Pakistan celebrates Air Force Day on account of heavy retaliations to India.
The People's Republic of China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
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 miles (37 km) south of the Chu Lai Marine base.
September 8
India opens 2 additional fronts against Pakistan.
The Pakistan Navy raids Indian coasts without any resistance in Operation Dwarka (Pakistan celebrates Victory Day annually).
September 9
Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches a perfect game in a baseball match against the Chicago Cubs. The opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley, allows only 1 run, which is unearned. It is Koufax's fourth no-hitter in as many seasons.
U.N. Secretary General U Thant negotiates with Pakistan President Ayub Khan.
U Thant recommends China for United Nations membership.
Hurricane Betsy roars ashore near New Orleans, Louisiana with winds of 145 mph (233 km/h), causing 76 deaths and $1.42 billion in damage. The storm is the first hurricane to cause $1 billion in unadjusted damages, giving it the nickname "Billion Dollar Betsy". It is the last major hurricane to strike New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina 40 years later.
September 13 – The Congress of Arab Countries begins in Casablanca; Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia boycotts the meeting.
September 14 – The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
September 16
China protests against Indian provocations in its border region.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Arif Abd ar-Razzaq's attempted coup fails.
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.
September 18
In Denmark, Palle Sørensen shoots 4 policemen in pursuit; he is apprehended the same day.
Comet Ikeya-Seki is first sighted by Japanese astronomers.
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin invites the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in the Soviet Union to negotiate.
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 15 March 1973.
September 21 – Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.
September 22 – Radio Peking announces that Indian troops have dismantled their equipment on the Chinese side of the border.
September 24
Fighting resumes between Indian and Pakistani troops.
The British governor of Aden cancels the constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
September 25 – The Tom & Jerry cartoon series makes its world broadcast premiere on CBS.
September 27 – The largest tanker ship at the time, Tokyo Maru, is launched in Yokohama, Japan.
September 28
Fidel Castro announces that anyone who wants to can emigrate to the United States.
Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts, killing hundreds.
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).
The classic family sci-fi show Thunderbirds debuts on ITV.
October
Main article: October 1965
October 3
Fidel Castro announces that Che Guevara has resigned and left the country.
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an immigration bill which abolishes quotas based on national origin.
October 4
At least 150 killed when a commuter train derails at the outskirts of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London.
Pope Paul VI visits the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.
The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.
October 5 – Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with Malaysia because of their disagreement in the UN.
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.
October 7 – Seven Japanese fishing boats are sunk off Guam by super typhoon Carmen; 209 are killed.
October 8
The Indonesian army instigates the arrest and execution of communists which last until March 1966[citation needed] (see Indonesian killings of 1965–66).
The International Olympic Committee admits East Germany as a member.
The Post Office Tower opens in London.
October 9
Yale University presents the Vinland map.
A brigade of South Korean soldiers arrive in South Vietnam.
October 10 – The first group of Cuban refugees travels to the U.S.
October 12
Per Borten forms a government in Norway.
The U.N. General Council recommends that the United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia.
October 13 – Congo President Joseph Kasavubu fires Prime Minister Moise Tshombe and forms a provisional government, with Évariste Kimba in a leading position.
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.
October 16
Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire. The body is quickly identified as that of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day the previous year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester. Ian Brady, arrested for the murder of a 17-year-old man in nearby Hattersley, is charged with murdering Lesley, as is his 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley.
Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world.
October 17 – The New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, NY, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected site park improvements fail to materialize.
October 18 – The Indonesian government outlaws the Communist Party of Indonesia.[citation needed]
October 20 – Ludwig Erhard is re-elected Chancellor of West Germany (he had first been elected in 1963).
October 21
Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
The OAU meets in Accra, Ghana.
October 22
French authors André Figueras and Jacques Laurent are fined for their comments against Charles de Gaulle.
African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
Colonel Christophe Soglo stages a second coup in Dahomey.
October 24
British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
British police find the decomposed body of a boy on Saddleworth Moor.
October 25 – The Soviet Union declares its support of African countries in case Rhodesia unilaterally declares independence.
October 26
Anti-government demonstrations occur in the Dominican Republic.
Police discover the body of Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis.
October 27
Brazilian president Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco removes power from parliament, legal courts and opposition parties.
Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (30th government).
The Gateway Arch
October 28
French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville travels to Moscow.
Pope Paul VI announces that the ecumenical council has decided that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ.
In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot (190 m)-tall inverted catenary steel Gateway Arch is completed.
Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan politician, is kidnapped in Paris and never seen again.
October 29
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10), and John Kilbride (12).
An 80-kiloton nuclear device is detonated at Amchitka Island, Alaska as part of the Vela Uniform program, code-named Project Long Shot.
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.
In Washington, D.C., a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.
November
Main article: November 1965
November 1 – A trolleybus plunges into the Nile at Cairo, killing 74 passengers.
November 2
Republican John Lindsay is elected mayor of New York City.
Quaker Norman Morrison, 32, sets himself on fire in front of The Pentagon.
November 3 – French President Charles de Gaulle announces that he will stand for re-election.
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.
November 6 – 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 take advantage of this program).
November 7 – Pillsbury's world-famous mascot, the Pillsbury Doughboy, is created.
November 8
Vietnam War – Operation Hump: The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong.
The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands (on June 23, 1976 Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches are returned to the Seychelles).
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, suspending the death penalty for murder in the United Kingdom; renewal of the Act in 1969 makes the abolition permanent.
The soap opera Days of Our Lives debuts on NBC.
November 9
Northeast blackout of 1965: Several U.S. states (VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY and portions of NJ) and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13½ hours.
Vietnam War: In New York City, 22-year-old Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in protest against the war.
November 11
In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares de facto independence ('UDI').
United Airlines Flight 227 a Boeing 727-22, crashes short of the runway and catches fire at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City; 43 out of 91 passengers and crew perish.
November 12 – A UN Security Council resolution (voted 10–0) recommends that other countries not recognize independent Rhodesia.
November 13 – The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles (97 km) off Nassau, Bahamas, with the loss of 90 lives.
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.
November 15 – U.S. racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mph (966.574 km/h).
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).
November 20 – The UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
November 21 – Mireille Mathieu sings on France's Télé-Dimanche and begins her successful singing career (Dimanche is French for Sunday).
November 22
Man of La Mancha opens in a Greenwich Village theatre in New York and eventually becomes one of the greatest musical hits of all time, winning a Tony Award for its star, Richard Kiley.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
November 23 – Soviet general Mikhail Kazakov assumes command of the Warsaw Pact.
November 24 – Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousts Joseph Kasavubu and declares himself president.
November 26 – At the Hammaguira launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter outer space.
November 27
Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters picket the White House, then march on the Washington Monument.
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.
November 28 – Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippines President-elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
November 29 – The Canadian satellite Alouette 2 is launched.
December
Main article: December 1965
December 1 – The Border Security Force is established in India as a special force to guard the borders.
December 3
The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia had asked for British help against Rhodesia.
Members of the Organization of African Unity decide to sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, unless the British government ends the rebellion of Rhodesia by mid-December.
The Beatles release Rubber Soul.
December 5
Charles de Gaulle is re-elected as French president with 10,828,421 votes.
The "glasnost meeting" becomes the first spontaneous political demonstration, and the first demonstration for civil rights in the Soviet Union.
December 8
Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith warns that Rhodesia will resist a trade embargo by neighboring countries with force.
The Race Relations Act becomes the first legislation to address racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
The Second Vatican Council closes.
December 9 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first Peanuts television special, debuts on CBS, quickly becoming an annual tradition.
December 15
The Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) is formed.
Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.
December 17 – The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.
December 20 – The World Food Programme is made a permanent agency of the United Nations.
December 21
The Soviet Union announces that it has shipped rockets to North Vietnam.
Soviet scientists condemn Trofim Lysenko for pseudoscience.
In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer resigns as chairman of the Christian Democratic Party.
A new, 1-hour German-American production of The Nutcracker, with an international cast that includes Edward Villella in the title role, makes its U.S. TV debut. It is repeated annually by CBS over the next 3 years, but after that, it is virtually forgotten, until it is issued on DVD in 2009 by Warner Archive.
December 22
A military coup occurs in Dahomey.
A 70 mph (110 km/h) speed limit is imposed on British roads.
David Lean's film of Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, is released.
December 25 – The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Taiz.
December 27 – The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea.
December 28 – Italian Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani resigns.
December 30
President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed on a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.
Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
December 31 – Bokassa takes power in the Central African Republic.
Main article: January 1965
January 1 – The ship SS Catala is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, stranding it.
January 4 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address.
January 9 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
January 12 – Wanda Beach Murders: The bodies of two 15-year-olds, Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt, are found at Wanda Beach, Sydney.
January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
January 19 – The unmanned Gemini 2 is launched on a suborbital test of various spacecraft systems.
January 20
Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President.
Indonesian President Sukarno announces the withdrawal of the Indonesian government from the United Nations.
January 26 – Anti-Hindi agitations break out in India, because of which Hindi does not get "National Language" status and remains one of the 23 official languages of India.
January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place with the largest assembly of statesmen in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.[1]
February
Main article: February 1965
February 6 – Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
February 12 – The African and Malagasy Common Organization (Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache; OCAM) is formed as successor to the Afro-Malagasy Union for Economic Cooperation (Union Africaine et Malgache de Cooperation Economique; UAMCE), formerly the African and Malagasy Union (Union Africaine et Malgache; UAM)).
February 15 – A new red and white maple leaf design is inaugurated as the flag of Canada, replacing the Union Flag and the Canadian Red Ensign.
February 18 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
February 20
Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
Suat Hayri Ürgüplü forms the new (interim) government of Turkey (29th government).
February 21 – African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City.
February 22 – A new, revised, color production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella airs on CBS. Lesley Ann Warren makes her TV debut in the title role. The show becomes an annual tradition.
The newly adopted Flag of Canada
Flag of the newly independent Gambia
March
Main article: March 1965
March 2 – The Sound of Music premieres at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.
March 7 – Bloody Sunday: Some 200 Alabama State Troopers clash with 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama.
March 8 – Vietnam War: Some 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
March 9 – The second attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., stops at the bridge that was the site of Bloody Sunday, to hold a prayer service and return to Selma, in obedience to a court restraining order. White supremacists beat up white Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb later that day in Selma.
March 10
Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured 12 days after her escape.
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.
March 11 – White Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb, beaten by White supremacists in Selma, Alabama on March 9 following the second march from Selma, dies in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
March 15 – President Lyndon B. Johnson makes his "We Shall Overcome" speech.
March 16 – Police clash with 600 SNCC marchers in Montgomery, Alabama.
March 17
In Montgomery, Alabama, 1,600 civil rights marchers demonstrate at the Courthouse.
In response to the events of March 7 and 9 in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon B. Johnson sends a bill to Congress that forms the basis for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is passed by the Senate May 26, the House July 10, and signed into law by President Johnson August 6.
March 18
Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
A United States federal judge rules that SCLC has the lawful right to march to Montgomery, Alabama to petition for 'redress of grievances'.
March 19 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, reputed to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser ever built, is discovered off the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, by teenage diver E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after she was sunk with a million dollar cargo, while attempting to run past the Union blockade into Charleston.
March 20
Poupée de cire, poupée de son, sung by France Gall (music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 for Luxembourg.
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.
March 21
Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 civil rights activists in the third march from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery.
March 22 – Nicolae Ceaușescu becomes the first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party.
March 23
Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
The first issue of The Vigilant is published from Khartoum.
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.
March 30
Funeral services are held for Detroit homemaker Viola Liuzzo, who was shot dead by 4 Klansmen as she drove marchers back to Selma at night after the civil rights march.
The second ODECA charter, signed on 12 December 1962, becomes effective.
April
Main article: April 1965
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.
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 portrayal in the role. Sherman Brothers receives 2 Oscars including Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee".
April 6
The Early Bird communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.
The British Government announces the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project.
April 9
The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes.
In Houston, the Harris County Domed Stadium (more commonly known as the Astrodome) opens.
Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang appear on the cover of Time.
April 11 – The 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak: An estimated 51 tornadoes (47 confirmed) hit in 6 Midwestern states, killing between 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.
April 14 – In Cold Blood killers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, convicted of murdering 4 members of the Herbert Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, are executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary for Men in Lansing, Kansas.
April 17 – The first SDS march against the Vietnam War draws 25,000 protestors to Washington, DC.
April 18 – Consecration of Saint Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto, Canada.
April 21 – The New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, reopens.
April 23 – The Pennine Way officially opens.
April 24
The 1965 Yerevan demonstrations start in Yerevan, demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
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).
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.
April 25 – Teenage sniper Michael Clark kills 3 and wounds others shooting at cars from a hilltop along Highway 101 just south of Orcutt, California. Sixteen year old Clark kills himself as police rush the hilltop.
April 28
U.S. troops occupy the Dominican Republic.
Vietnam War: Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies announces that the country will substantially increase its number of troops in South Vietnam, supposedly at the request of the Saigon government (it is later revealed that Menzies had asked the leadership in Saigon to send the request at the behest of the Americans).
April 29 – Australia announces that it is sending an infantry battalion to support the South Vietnam government.
May
Main article: May 1965
May 1
Bob Askin replaces Jack Renshaw as Premier of New South Wales.
The Battle of Dong-Yin occurs as a conflict between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.
Liverpool wins the FA Cup Final, beating Leeds Utd 2–1.
May 5 – Forty men burn their draft cards at the University of California, Berkeley, and a coffin is marched to the Berkeley Draft Board.
May 6 – A tornado outbreak near the Twin Cities in Minnesota kills 13 and injures 683.
May 7 – The U.S. Steel freighter SS Cedarville collides with the SS Topdalsfjord and sinks near the Mackinac Bridge, killing 25. 10 are rescued from the Cedarville, the 3rd largest lake ship to sink after its sister the SS Carl D. Bradley, and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
May 9 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz returns to the stage after a 12-year absence, performing a legendary concert in Carnegie Hall in New York.
May 12
West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
The Italian liner T/S Michelangelo enters into service.
May 13 – A West German court of appeals condemns the behavior of ex-defense minister Franz Josef Strauss during the Spiegel scandal.
May 21 – The largest antiwar teach-in to date begins at Berkeley, California, attended by 30,000.
May 22 – The first skateboard championship is held. In addition, several hundred Vietnam War protesters in Berkeley, California, march to the Draft Board again to burn 19 more cards. Lyndon Johnson is hung in effigy.
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.
May 29 – A mining accident in Dhanbad, India kills 274.
May 31 – Racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, and later wins the Formula One world driving championship in the same year.
June
Main article: June 1965
Green Library at Florida International University in Miami, FL
June 1
Florida International University is founded in Miami.
A coal mine explosion in Fukuoka, Japan kills 237.
June 2 – Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
June 3 – Gemini 4: Astronaut Edward Higgins White makes the first U.S. space walk.
June 7 – A mining accident in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, results in 128 deaths.
June 10 – Vietnam War – Battle of Dong Xoai: About 1,500 Vietcong mount a mortar attack on Đồng Xoài, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound.
June 16 – A planned anti-Vietnam War protest at The Pentagon becomes a teach-in, with demonstrators distributing 50,000 leaflets in and around the building.
June 19 – Houari Boumediene's Revolutionary Council ousts Ahmed Ben Bella, in a bloodless coup in Algeria.
June 20 – Police in Algiers break up demonstrations by people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella.
June 22 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed in Tokyo.
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.
July
Main article: July 1965
July – The Commonwealth secretariat is created.
July 14 – U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.
July 15 – Greek Prime minister Georgios Papandreou and his government are dismissed by King Constantine II.
July 16 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel is inaugurated by presidents Giuseppe Saragat and Charles de Gaulle.
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.
July 25 – Bob Dylan elicits controversy among folk purists by "going electric" at the Newport Folk Festival.
July 26 – The Maldives receive full independence from Great Britain.
July 27 – Edward Heath becomes Leader of the British Conservative Party.
July 28 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000, and to more than double the number of men drafted per month - from 17,000 to 35,000.
July 30 – War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
August
Main article: August 1965
August 1 – Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.
August 6 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
August 7 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, recommends the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, negotiating its separation with Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore.
August 9
Singapore is expelled from the Federation of Malaysia, which recognizes it as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew announces Singapore's independence and assumes the position of Prime Minister of the new island nation.
An explosion at an Arkansas missile plant kills 53.
Indonesian president Sukarno collapses in public.
August 11 – The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles.
August 13 – The rock group Jefferson Airplane debuts at the Matrix in San Francisco and begins to appear there regularly.
August 15 – The Beatles perform the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing before 55,600 persons at Shea Stadium in New York City.
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.
August 19 – At the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt, 66 ex-SS personnel receive life sentences, 15 others smaller ones.
August 20 – Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from Keene, New Hampshire, is murdered in Hayneville, Alabama while working in the American civil rights movement.
August 21 – Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) is launched on the first 1-week flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power.
August 30
Casey Stengel announces his retirement after 55 years in baseball.
Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album Highway 61 Revisited, featuring the song "Like a Rolling Stone".
An avalanche buries a dam construction site at Saas-Fee, Switzerland, killing 90 workers.
August 31 – President Johnson signs a law penalizing the burning of draft cards with up to 5 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.
September
Main article: September 1965
September 2 – Pakistani troops enter the Indian sector of Kashmir, while Indian troops try to invade Lahore.
September 6 – The Islamic Republic of Pakistan observes its Defence Day, on account of successful defence of Lahore and other important areas against India.
September 7
Pakistan celebrates Air Force Day on account of heavy retaliations to India.
The People's Republic of China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
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 miles (37 km) south of the Chu Lai Marine base.
September 8
India opens 2 additional fronts against Pakistan.
The Pakistan Navy raids Indian coasts without any resistance in Operation Dwarka (Pakistan celebrates Victory Day annually).
September 9
Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches a perfect game in a baseball match against the Chicago Cubs. The opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley, allows only 1 run, which is unearned. It is Koufax's fourth no-hitter in as many seasons.
U.N. Secretary General U Thant negotiates with Pakistan President Ayub Khan.
U Thant recommends China for United Nations membership.
Hurricane Betsy roars ashore near New Orleans, Louisiana with winds of 145 mph (233 km/h), causing 76 deaths and $1.42 billion in damage. The storm is the first hurricane to cause $1 billion in unadjusted damages, giving it the nickname "Billion Dollar Betsy". It is the last major hurricane to strike New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina 40 years later.
September 13 – The Congress of Arab Countries begins in Casablanca; Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia boycotts the meeting.
September 14 – The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
September 16
China protests against Indian provocations in its border region.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Arif Abd ar-Razzaq's attempted coup fails.
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.
September 18
In Denmark, Palle Sørensen shoots 4 policemen in pursuit; he is apprehended the same day.
Comet Ikeya-Seki is first sighted by Japanese astronomers.
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin invites the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in the Soviet Union to negotiate.
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 15 March 1973.
September 21 – Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.
September 22 – Radio Peking announces that Indian troops have dismantled their equipment on the Chinese side of the border.
September 24
Fighting resumes between Indian and Pakistani troops.
The British governor of Aden cancels the constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
September 25 – The Tom & Jerry cartoon series makes its world broadcast premiere on CBS.
September 27 – The largest tanker ship at the time, Tokyo Maru, is launched in Yokohama, Japan.
September 28
Fidel Castro announces that anyone who wants to can emigrate to the United States.
Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts, killing hundreds.
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).
The classic family sci-fi show Thunderbirds debuts on ITV.
October
Main article: October 1965
October 3
Fidel Castro announces that Che Guevara has resigned and left the country.
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an immigration bill which abolishes quotas based on national origin.
October 4
At least 150 killed when a commuter train derails at the outskirts of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London.
Pope Paul VI visits the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.
The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.
October 5 – Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with Malaysia because of their disagreement in the UN.
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.
October 7 – Seven Japanese fishing boats are sunk off Guam by super typhoon Carmen; 209 are killed.
October 8
The Indonesian army instigates the arrest and execution of communists which last until March 1966[citation needed] (see Indonesian killings of 1965–66).
The International Olympic Committee admits East Germany as a member.
The Post Office Tower opens in London.
October 9
Yale University presents the Vinland map.
A brigade of South Korean soldiers arrive in South Vietnam.
October 10 – The first group of Cuban refugees travels to the U.S.
October 12
Per Borten forms a government in Norway.
The U.N. General Council recommends that the United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia.
October 13 – Congo President Joseph Kasavubu fires Prime Minister Moise Tshombe and forms a provisional government, with Évariste Kimba in a leading position.
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.
October 16
Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire. The body is quickly identified as that of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day the previous year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester. Ian Brady, arrested for the murder of a 17-year-old man in nearby Hattersley, is charged with murdering Lesley, as is his 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley.
Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world.
October 17 – The New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, NY, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected site park improvements fail to materialize.
October 18 – The Indonesian government outlaws the Communist Party of Indonesia.[citation needed]
October 20 – Ludwig Erhard is re-elected Chancellor of West Germany (he had first been elected in 1963).
October 21
Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
The OAU meets in Accra, Ghana.
October 22
French authors André Figueras and Jacques Laurent are fined for their comments against Charles de Gaulle.
African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
Colonel Christophe Soglo stages a second coup in Dahomey.
October 24
British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
British police find the decomposed body of a boy on Saddleworth Moor.
October 25 – The Soviet Union declares its support of African countries in case Rhodesia unilaterally declares independence.
October 26
Anti-government demonstrations occur in the Dominican Republic.
Police discover the body of Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis.
October 27
Brazilian president Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco removes power from parliament, legal courts and opposition parties.
Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (30th government).
The Gateway Arch
October 28
French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville travels to Moscow.
Pope Paul VI announces that the ecumenical council has decided that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ.
In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot (190 m)-tall inverted catenary steel Gateway Arch is completed.
Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan politician, is kidnapped in Paris and never seen again.
October 29
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10), and John Kilbride (12).
An 80-kiloton nuclear device is detonated at Amchitka Island, Alaska as part of the Vela Uniform program, code-named Project Long Shot.
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.
In Washington, D.C., a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.
November
Main article: November 1965
November 1 – A trolleybus plunges into the Nile at Cairo, killing 74 passengers.
November 2
Republican John Lindsay is elected mayor of New York City.
Quaker Norman Morrison, 32, sets himself on fire in front of The Pentagon.
November 3 – French President Charles de Gaulle announces that he will stand for re-election.
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.
November 6 – 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 take advantage of this program).
November 7 – Pillsbury's world-famous mascot, the Pillsbury Doughboy, is created.
November 8
Vietnam War – Operation Hump: The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong.
The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands (on June 23, 1976 Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches are returned to the Seychelles).
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, suspending the death penalty for murder in the United Kingdom; renewal of the Act in 1969 makes the abolition permanent.
The soap opera Days of Our Lives debuts on NBC.
November 9
Northeast blackout of 1965: Several U.S. states (VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY and portions of NJ) and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13½ hours.
Vietnam War: In New York City, 22-year-old Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in protest against the war.
November 11
In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares de facto independence ('UDI').
United Airlines Flight 227 a Boeing 727-22, crashes short of the runway and catches fire at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City; 43 out of 91 passengers and crew perish.
November 12 – A UN Security Council resolution (voted 10–0) recommends that other countries not recognize independent Rhodesia.
November 13 – The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles (97 km) off Nassau, Bahamas, with the loss of 90 lives.
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.
November 15 – U.S. racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mph (966.574 km/h).
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).
November 20 – The UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
November 21 – Mireille Mathieu sings on France's Télé-Dimanche and begins her successful singing career (Dimanche is French for Sunday).
November 22
Man of La Mancha opens in a Greenwich Village theatre in New York and eventually becomes one of the greatest musical hits of all time, winning a Tony Award for its star, Richard Kiley.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
November 23 – Soviet general Mikhail Kazakov assumes command of the Warsaw Pact.
November 24 – Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousts Joseph Kasavubu and declares himself president.
November 26 – At the Hammaguira launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter outer space.
November 27
Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters picket the White House, then march on the Washington Monument.
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.
November 28 – Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippines President-elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
November 29 – The Canadian satellite Alouette 2 is launched.
December
Main article: December 1965
December 1 – The Border Security Force is established in India as a special force to guard the borders.
December 3
The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia had asked for British help against Rhodesia.
Members of the Organization of African Unity decide to sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, unless the British government ends the rebellion of Rhodesia by mid-December.
The Beatles release Rubber Soul.
December 5
Charles de Gaulle is re-elected as French president with 10,828,421 votes.
The "glasnost meeting" becomes the first spontaneous political demonstration, and the first demonstration for civil rights in the Soviet Union.
December 8
Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith warns that Rhodesia will resist a trade embargo by neighboring countries with force.
The Race Relations Act becomes the first legislation to address racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
The Second Vatican Council closes.
December 9 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first Peanuts television special, debuts on CBS, quickly becoming an annual tradition.
December 15
The Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) is formed.
Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.
December 17 – The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.
December 20 – The World Food Programme is made a permanent agency of the United Nations.
December 21
The Soviet Union announces that it has shipped rockets to North Vietnam.
Soviet scientists condemn Trofim Lysenko for pseudoscience.
In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer resigns as chairman of the Christian Democratic Party.
A new, 1-hour German-American production of The Nutcracker, with an international cast that includes Edward Villella in the title role, makes its U.S. TV debut. It is repeated annually by CBS over the next 3 years, but after that, it is virtually forgotten, until it is issued on DVD in 2009 by Warner Archive.
December 22
A military coup occurs in Dahomey.
A 70 mph (110 km/h) speed limit is imposed on British roads.
David Lean's film of Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, is released.
December 25 – The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Taiz.
December 27 – The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea.
December 28 – Italian Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani resigns.
December 30
President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed on a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.
Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
December 31 – Bokassa takes power in the Central African Republic.