1965
Events
January-February
- January 4 - United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.
- January 26 - Hindi becomes the official language of India.
- February 6 - David London: Born in Kennewick, WA the the wonderful boyfriend of Dale Peterson. United States
- February 9 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam
- February 15 - A new red and white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada replacing the old Red Ensign standard.
- 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.
- February 21 - Malcolm X is assassinated at his mosque in New York City by Black Muslims.
March
- March 7 - Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama
- March 8 - Vietnam War: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
- March 18 - cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space from spacecraft Voskhod 2
- March 21 - Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
- March 23 - NASA launches Gemini 3 which is the United States' first two-person space flight took (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).
- March 25 - Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. begin march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery.
April-June
- April 11 - The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states killing 256.
- April 24 - Fighting breaks out in the Dominican Republic as officers loyal to deposed President Juan Bosch lead a mutiny against the right wing junta running the country. US troops are later sent by President Lyndon B. Johnson for the stated purpose of protecting US citizens and preventing an alleged Communist takeover of the country.
- April 28 - Vietnam War: Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces that the country will substantially increase its number of troops in South Vietnam, supposedly at the request of the Saigon government, although it is later revealed that Menzies had asked the leadership in Saigon to send the request at the behest of the Americans.
- June 2 - Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
- June 10 - Vietnam War: Battle of Dong Xoai begins - About 1,500 Vietcong mount a mortar attack on Dong Xoai and then overrun its military headquarters and adjoining militia compound.
- June 22 - Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea.
July-August
- July 14 - Mariner 4 flyby of Mars.
- July 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.
- July 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.
- July 29 - Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
- July 30 - War on Poverty: US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
- August 6 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into United States law.
- August 9 - Singapore proclaims its independence from the Malaysian Federation.
- August 11 - Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles, California
- August 18 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins as 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai 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 US base at Chu Lai.
September-October
- September 6 - War of 1965: India attacks Pakistan and announces that its forces will capture Lahore (city of Pakistan) in an hour.
- September 7 - 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, 23 miles south of the Chu Lai Marine base.
- September 14 - Opening of fourth and final period of Second Vatican Council
- September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail as the 3rd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 21 - Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III, Sultan of Terengganu becomes the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- October 15 - Vietnam War: The anti-war student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States.
- October 28 - In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed.
- October 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
- 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 8 - 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 were returned to Seychelles).
- November 9 - Northeast Blackout of 1965: Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 1/2 hours.
- November 9 - Vietnam War: In New York City, 22-year old Catholic Worker member Roger Allen LaPorte sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in protest of the war in Vietnam (this was the second such incident in a week; on November 2 32-year-old Quaker member Norman Morrison did the same thing in front of The Pentagon).
- November 11 - Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) was declared independent by the white minority regime of Ian Smith.
- November 14 - Vietnam War: Battle of the Ia Drang begins - In the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands in Vietnam, the first major engagement of the war between regular American and North Vietnamese forces begins.
- November 16 - Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe from Baikonur, Kazakhstan toward Venus (on March 1, 1966 it became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet).
- 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 space.
- November 27 - Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells US President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned major sweep operations needed to neutralize Viet Cong forces during the next year were to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.
- November 28 - Vietnam War: In response to US 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.
December
- December 1 - The Border Security Force is established in India as a special force to guard the borders.
- December 8 - Closing of Second Vatican Council
- December 30 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines
unknown dates
- The Council for National Academic Awards is established in the UK
- TAT-4 cable goes into operation.
- Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy completed.
- Medicaid is founded in the United States
Year in topic
- 1965 in film
- The Sound of Music
- Doctor Zhivago
- The Greatest Story Ever Told starring Max vonSydow, Charlton Heston, Martin Landau, John Wayne, Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall, Shelley Winters, Pat Boone and others
- Help!, starring The Beatles
- 1965 in literature
- 1965 in music
- February 11 - Beatle Ringo Starr marries Maureen Cox.
- August - Paul Simon releases UK-only LP The Paul Simon Song Book.
- 1965 is the title of an Afghan Whigs album released in 1998.
- 1965 in sports
- 1965 in television
Births
January-March
- January 15 - Adam Jones, musician of Tool
- January 20 - Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, future Countess of Wessex
- January 22 - DJ Jazzy Jeff, rapper, actor
- January 27 - Alan Cumming, actor
- January 29 - Dominik Hasek, ice hockey player
- February 1 - Brandon Lee, actor, son of Bruce Lee (d. 1993)
- February 1 - Sherilyn Fenn, actress
- February 1 - Princess Stephanie of Monaco
- February 11 - Angie Ridgeway, golfer
- February 11 - Stephen Gregory, actor
- February 18 - Dr. Dre, rap music performer, music producer
- February 23 - Michael Dell, founder of Dell Inc.
- March 1 - Stewart Elliott, Canadian jockey
- March 4 - Gary Helms, Kick-boxer USA
- March 9 - Benito Santiago, baseball player
- March 14 - Kevin Brown, baseball player
- March 25 - Sarah Jessica Parker, actress
April-July
- April 4 - Robert Downey Jr., actor
- April 7 - Bill Bellamy, actor, comedian (Fled, Any Given Sunday, Fastlane)
- April 15 - Linda Perry, musician
- April 16 - Martin Lawrence, actor, comedian, producer
- April 21 - Ed Belfour, NHL goalie
- April 14 - Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, suspected military head of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda (his birth date is also reported to be March 1, 1964)
- May 9 - Steve Yzerman, ice hockey player
- May 14 - Eoin Colfer, writer
- May 15 - Lizi Rodriguez, psychologist and media psychotherapist
- May 16 - Krist Novoselic, Nirvana bassist
- May 17 - Trent Reznor, musician (Nine Inch Nails)
- May 28 - Chris Ballew, musician
- May 31 - Brooke Shields, actress
- June 1 - Nigel Short, chess player
- June 4 - Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
- June 7 - Mick Foley, professional wrestler and author
- June 10 - Elizabeth Hurley, actress
- July 19 - Stuart Scott, sports reporter
- July 28 - Lori Loughlin, actress
- July 31 - Joanne Kathleen Rowling, author of Harry Potter
August-December
- August 10 - John Starks, basketball player
- August 14 - Emmanuelle Béart, Cesar Award winning actress
- August 24 - Reggie Miller, basketball star
- August 28 - Shania Twain, singer/songwriter
- September 11 - Moby, musician
- September 25 - Scottie Pippen, NBA star
- October 5 - Mario Lemieux, hockey star
- October 5 - Patrick Roy, hockey star
- November 2 - Shah Rukh Khan, actor
- November 7 - Sigrun Wodars, East German athlete
- November 21 - Alexander Siddig, actor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
- November 21 - Björk, Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician
- November 30 - Ben Stiller, actor (There's Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Zoolander)
- December 3 - Steve Harris, actor (The Practice, Minority Report)
- December 3 - Katarina Witt, figure skater
- December 14 - Craig Biggio, baseball player
- December 27 - Salman Khan, actor, India
Deaths
January-February
- January 4 - T. S. Eliot, American/British poet
- January 12 - Lorraine Hansberry, writer
- January 14 - Jeanette MacDonald, actress, singer
- January 20 - Alan Freed, disk jockey
- January 24 - Winston Churchill, British politician
- January 28 - Maxime Weygand, soldier
- February 13 - Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, socialite
- February 15 - Nat King Cole, singer, musician
- February 21 - Malcolm X, Black Muslim Movement activist
- February 22 - Felix Frankfurter, justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
- February 23 - Stan Laurel, British actor
- February 26 - George Adamski, UFO traveler
March-December
- March 3 - King Farouk of Egypt, former monarch
- March 6 - Margaret Dumont, actress
- March 13 - Corrado Gini, statistician
- March 13 - Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop, poet and political figure (b. 1882)
- March 17 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, baseball, basketball and American football coach and player
- March 18 - King Farouk I of Egypt
- March 28 - Her Royal Highness Princess Mary, The Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
- May 25 - Sonny Boy Williamson
- June 28 - Red Nichols, jazz musician (b. 1905)
- July 1 - Wally Hammond, cricketer
- July 7 - Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel
- August 27 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect
- August 28 - Giulio Racah, Israeli physicist (b. 1909)
- September 15 - Steve Brown, jazz musician (b. 1890)
- November 6 - Clarence Williams, jazz musician (b. 1893)
- Physics - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Richard P. Feynman
- Chemistry - Robert Burns Woodward
- Medicine - François Jacob, André Lwoff, Jacques Monod
- Literature - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
- Peace - United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Books
- On Escalation by Herman Kahn coins the term escalation, a word closely associated with the Cold War.