What Happened in 1965 — Events, Births & Deaths

Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 crashes on approach to Alma-Ata Airport, killing 64 people.

South Vietnamese Prime Minister Trần Văn Hương is removed by the military junta of Nguyễn Khánh.

The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.

Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board.

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.

Malcolm X visits Smethwick near Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.

The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign flag.

Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the crewed Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm, all Catholics, attempt a coup against the military junta of the Buddhist Nguyễn Khánh.

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

The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against the British colonial presence.

Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers are brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.

Aeroflot Flight 542 crashes in the Yermakovsky District, killing all 31 aboard.

Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang.

Aeroflot Flight 513 crashes during takeoff from Kuybyshev Airport, killing 30 and injuring 9.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells the U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.

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.

Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, the last in a series of uncrewed lunar space probes.

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.

NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

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.

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.

Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.

My Fair Lady wins Best Picture at the 37th Academy Awards.

Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.

Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate in Washington, D.C., against the termination of the Colville tribe.

The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-five tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states of the United States, killing 266 people.

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

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.

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.

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.

One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.

Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

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.

The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.

The civilian Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Phan Huy Quát, resigns after being unable to work with a junta led by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ.

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.

Vietnam War: The United States Air Force uses B-52 bombers to attack guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state.

The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed.

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 is destroyed by a bomb near 100 Mile House, Canada, killing 52.

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.

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.

South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, a formerly undetected communist spy and double agent, is hunted down and killed by unknown individuals after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh.

Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.

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.

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

U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

Frank Herbert's novel, Dune, is published for the first time. It was named as the world's best-selling science fiction novel in 2003.

The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.

The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

The State of Singapore separates from the Malaysian federation due to a heated ideological conflict between their ruling parties.[citation needed][needs copy edit]

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

The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.

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.

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

The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.

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.

The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

India retaliates following Pakistan's Operation Grand Slam which results in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 that ends in a stalemate followed by the signing of the Tashkent Declaration.

During an Indo-Pakistani War, 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.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is established.

Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10–12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to cause over $1 billion in unadjusted damage.

Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Army captures the town of Burki, just southeast of Lahore.

The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India.

Following the Battle of Burki, the Indian Army captures Dograi in during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

The Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 between India and Pakistan over Kashmir ends after the United Nations calls for a ceasefire and after a last engagement near Dograi.

At dawn, seven Indonesian Army officers and a police inspector were assassinated by the September 30 Movement at Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta. In addition, two more officers were killed in Yogyakarta. The Army pinned the murders to the Communist Party of Indonesia, resulting in mass killings of suspected leftists.

Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas.

Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.

The 1964–65 New York World's Fair closes after two years and more than 51 million attendees.

Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun.

Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, launches an operation seeking to destroy Communist forces during the siege of Plei Me.

Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognizes the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths.

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.

The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.

The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom for almost all crimes.

The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Viet Cong at the Battle of Gang Toi.

American Airlines Flight 383 crashes in Constance, Kentucky, killing 58.

Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast blackout of 1965.

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

Southern Rhodesia's Prime Minister Ian Smith unilaterally declares the colony independent as the unrecognised state of Rhodesia.

United Air Lines Flight 227 crashes at Salt Lake City International Airport, killing 43.

The SS Yarmouth Castle catches fire and sinks, killing 87.

Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.

Craig Breedlove sets a land speed record of 600.601 mph (966.574 km/h) in his car, the Spirit of America, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

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.

Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and becomes President; he rules the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997.

France launches Astérix, becoming the third nation to put an object in orbit using its own booster.

Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned operations are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.

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.

Soviet Union, Space probe of the Luna program, called Luna 8, is launched, but crashes on the Moon.

Launch of Gemini 7 with crew members Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. The Gemini 7 spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous performed by the crew of Gemini 6A.

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

Kecksburg UFO incident: A fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; with witnesses reporting something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh.

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.

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is adopted.

In the United Kingdom, a 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.

Damien Hirst, English painter and art collector

Mick Foley, American wrestler

Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (born 1917)

Judy Holliday, American actress and singer (born 1921)

Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (born 1900)

Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (born 1891)