What happened in 1965
89 entries recorded for 1965, listed by date. That was 61 years ago.
1965 at a glance
- Years ago
- 61 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1960s
- Generation born
- Generation X
- Entries here
- 89
- Breakdown
- 88 historical events · 1 deaths
January
- January 1
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which later helped the country become a republic, was founded.
- January 4
Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20
Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 crashes on approach to Alma-Ata Airport, killing 64 people.
- January 27
Trần Văn Hương
South Vietnamese prime minister Trần Văn Hương was removed by the military junta of Nguyễn Khánh.
- January 28
Flag of Canada
The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.
February
- February 8
John F. Kennedy International Airport
After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 84 people on board.
- February 8
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board.
- February 9
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
- February 12
Malcolm X
Malcolm X visits Smethwick near Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.
- February 15
Flag of Canada
Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign.
- February 15
Maple leaf
The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign flag.
- February 18
The Gambia
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- February 19
Phạm Ngọc Thảo
Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm attempted a coup against the military junta of Nguyễn Khánh.
- February 20
Ranger 8
The NASA spacecraft Ranger 8 spacecraft transmitted 7,137 photographs of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing as planned into Mare Tranquillitatis.
- February 21
Black nationalism
American Black nationalist Malcolm X (pictured) was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.
March
- March 2
The Sound of Music (film)
The Sound of Music (poster pictured) was released in American theatres; it became the highest-grossing film until 1971.
- March 2
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The American and South Vietnamese air forces began Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam that eventually became the most intense air–ground battle waged during the Cold War period.
- March 7
Selma to Montgomery marches
Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers are brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.
- March 7
Civil rights movement
Unarmed civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, were attacked by police (pictured) on "Bloody Sunday".
- March 7
Aeroflot Flight 542
Aeroflot Flight 542 crashes in the Yermakovsky District, killing all 31 aboard.
- March 8
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang.
- March 8
Aeroflot Flight 513
Aeroflot Flight 513 crashes during takeoff from Kuybyshev Airport, killing 30 and injuring 9.
- March 10
Thomas Playford IV
Thomas Playford, Premier of South Australia, left office after 27 years, the longest term of any democratically elected leader in the history of Australia.
- March 15
Lyndon B. Johnson
President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells the U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.
- March 18
Alexei Leonov
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov ventured outside the Soviet spacecraft Voskhod 2, becoming the first person to walk in space.
- March 18
Astronaut
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
- March 19
SS Georgiana
The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
- March 21
Ranger program
Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, the last in a series of uncrewed lunar space probes.
- March 21
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
- March 25
Civil rights movement
Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their four-day 50-mile (80 km) march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
- March 28
1965 La Ligua earthquake
An Mw 7.4 earthquake in Chile sets off a series of tailings dam failures, burying the town of El Cobre and killing at least 500 people.
- March 30
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
April
- April 5
My Fair Lady (film)
My Fair Lady wins Best Picture at the 37th Academy Awards.
- April 11
Midwestern United States
Almost 50 confirmed tornadoes struck six states in the Midwestern United States during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, killing over 270 people and injuring 1,500 others.
- April 18
Guillermo González Camarena
Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (born 1917)
- April 21
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
- April 24
Cold War
Cold War: The Dominican Civil War broke out due to tensions following a military coup against the democratically elected government of President Juan Bosch two years earlier.
- April 24
Dominican Civil War
Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
- April 27
Konfrontasi
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation: British forces repelled a surprise Indonesian attack on a base at Plaman Mapu in Sarawak.
- April 28
Dominican Civil War
United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate US Army troops.
May
- May 12
Spacecraft
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
- May 18
Eli Cohen
Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.
- May 20
Cairo International Airport
While attempting to land at Cairo International Airport, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashed for unknown reasons, killing all but 6 of the 121 people on board.
- May 20
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.
- May 27
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.
June
- June 3
Gemini 4
The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.
- June 7
Supreme Court of the United States
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that a Connecticut law prohibiting the use of contraceptives violated the "right to marital privacy".
- June 9
South Vietnam
The civilian Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Phan Huy Quát, resigns after being unable to work with a junta led by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ.
- June 9
Viet Cong
Fighting began between the Viet Cong and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Đồng Xoài, one of the largest battles in the Vietnam War.
- June 9
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The Viet Cong commences combat with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Đồng Xoài, one of the largest battles in the war.
- June 18
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The United States Air Force uses B-52 bombers to attack guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.
- June 19
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, the commander of the South Vietnam Air Force, was appointed prime minister at the head of a military regime.
- June 22
Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea
The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed.
July
- July 8
Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21
Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 was destroyed by a bomb near 100 Mile House, Canada, killing 52.
- July 14
Mariner 4
Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet. The photographs take approximately six hours to be transmitted back to Earth.
- July 16
Mont Blanc Tunnel
The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
- July 16
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo (pictured)—an undetected communist spy—was reported dead due to injuries sustained during his capture, but it is generally assumed he was killed on the orders of military officials.
- July 27
Mattachine Midwest
Mattachine Midwest, a gay rights organization in Chicago, held its first meeting.
- July 28
Vietnam War
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.
August
- August 4
Politics of the Cook Islands
The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.
- August 5
India–Pakistan war of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
- August 6
Lyndon B. Johnson
U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disfranchisement of African Americans.
- August 9
State of Singapore (Malaysia)
The State of Singapore separates from the Malaysian federation due to a heated ideological conflict between their ruling parties.[citation needed][needs copy edit]
- August 11
Watts riots
Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
- August 18
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
- August 21
Socialist Republic of Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.
- August 22
Juan Marichal
Juan Marichal, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, strikes John Roseboro, catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, on the head with a bat, sparking a 14-minute brawl, one of the most violent on-field incidents in sports history.
- August 29
Gemini 5
The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
September
- September 17
Battle of Chawinda
The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India.
- September 21
Rhodesian mission in Lisbon
Portugal accepted a diplomatic mission from Southern Rhodesia despite objections by Britain, which had required the colony to implement black majority rule as a condition of independence.
- September 22
India–Pakistan war of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 between India and Pakistan over Kashmir ends after the United Nations calls for a ceasefire.
October
- October 1
Indonesian National Armed Forces
Seven Indonesian National Armed Forces officers, six of them generals, were murdered at dawn by a rebellious force in Jakarta; the Army then blamed the Communist Party, leading to a mass anti-communist purge that killed up to one million people.
- October 4
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas.
- October 15
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War protests: At an anti-war rally in New York City, David J. Miller burned his draft card (example pictured), the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act.
- October 19
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The Siege of Plei Me began with the first major confrontation between soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army and the U.S. Army.
- October 19
Hutu
A group of ethnic Hutu military officers failed in their attempt to overthrow the Burundian government.
- October 28
St. Louis
In St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., the 630-foot (190 m)-tall steel catenary Gateway Arch was completed.
- October 28
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognizes the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths.
- October 30
Jean Shrimpton
English model Jean Shrimpton wore a controversially short minidress to Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia – a pivotal moment of the introduction of the miniskirt to women's fashion.
November
- November 2
Norman Morrison
Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.
- November 8
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: In the Battle of Gang Toi, one of the earliest battles between the two sides, Viet Cong forces repelled an Australian attack.
- November 11
Rhodesia
Rhodesia, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith (pictured), unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom.
- November 16
Venera program
Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, which will be the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.
- November 28
Vietnam
Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
December
- December 5
Glasnost meeting
The "glasnost meeting" took place in Moscow, becoming the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the beginning of the civil rights movement in the country.
- December 9
Kecksburg UFO incident
A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in midwestern North America before landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania.
- December 15
Project Gemini
Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.
- December 21
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is adopted.
- December 21
United Nations
The United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which 88 member states have since signed.
- December 31
Jean-Bédel Bokassa
Central African military officers led by Jean-Bédel Bokassa began a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
Questions about 1965
What happened in 1965?
This site records 89 entries for 1965, including People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan on January 1. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1965?
61 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1965 turns 61 this year.
Which century is 1965 in?
1965 falls in the 20th century, in the 1960s.
Which generation was born in 1965?
Generation X (1965–1980). The latch-key generation; first to grow up with personal computers.
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