1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar).
Events
January-February
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 8 - First US combat forces arrive in Vietnam
- March 9 - Second march from Selma to Montgomery 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, Alabama.
- March 10 - Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle is recaptured after 13 days of freedom
- March 11 - White Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb, beaten by in Selma, Alabama on March 9 following the second march from Selma, dies in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
- March 18 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space
- March 21 - Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes
- March 21 - Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. begin march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery
- March 23 - NASA launches Gemini III with the United States' first two-person crew into earth orbit (Gus Grissom and John Young).
- March 24- Mark "The Undertaker" Callaway, Professional Wrestler
March 25 - Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully end march from Selma, arriving at the capitol in Montgomery
April
- April 6 - Launch of Early Bird communications satellite. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.
- April 9 - The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes. Also, in Houston, Texas, the Harris County Domed Stadium (or commonly known as Astrodome) was opened.
- April 11 - The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak: An estimated fifty-one tornadoes (forty-seven confirmed) hit in six Midwestern states killing anywhere from 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.
- April 14 - In Cold Blood killers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, convicted of murdering four members of the Herbert Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, are executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary For Men in Lansing, Kansas.
- April 21 - NY World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY, reopens.
- April 23 - The Pennine Way officially opened.
- April 24 - Bodies of Portuguese opposition politician Humberto Delgado and his secretary are found in a forest near , Spain. They were killed February 12.
- 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", thus thwarting the possibilty of "another Cuba".
- 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.
- April 29 - Australia announces that it is sending an infantry battalion to support the South Vietnam government.
May-June
July
August
September
- September 2 - Pakistani troops enter the Indian sector of Kashmir
- September 6 - Indian troops march on Lahore
- September 7 - China announces that it will reinforce its troops in the Indian border
- September 7 - Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate on the , 23 miles south of the Marine base
- September 8 - India opens two additional fronts against Pakistan
- September 9 - UN secretary general U Thant negotiates with Pakistani president Ayub Khan
- September 9 - U Thant recommends China for UN membership
- September 13 - Congress of Arab countries begins in Casablanca - boycotts the meeting
- September 14 - Opening of fourth and final period of Second Vatican Council
- September 16 - China protests against Indian provocations in its border region
- September 16 - In Iraq, Prime Minister 's attempted coup fails
- September 17 - forms a new government in Greece and ends a two-year old political crisis
- September 18 - China claims that US troops have used poison gas in South Vietnam
- September 18 - In Denmark, Palle Sörensen shoots four policemen in pursuit - apprehended the same day
- September 19 - Soviet prime minister Alexei Kosygin invites the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in Soviet Union to negotiate
- 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 - Commander of US troops in Vietnam, general William Westmoreland, pleads Washington to cancel the ban to use mustard gas
- September 21 - Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III, Sultan of Terengganu becomes the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 22 - announces that Indian troops have dismantled their equipment on the Chinese side of the border
- September 24 - Fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops erupts again
- September 24 - British governor of Aden cancels the Aden constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate because of the bad security situation
- September 27 - Largest tanker ship at the time, , launched in Yokohama
- September 28 - Fidel Castro announces that everybody who wants can immigrate to USA
- September 28 - Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts - hundreds dead
- September 30 – Attempted communist coup in Indonesia. Indonesian army crushes it with the lead of general Suharto
October
- October 3 - Fidel Castro announces that Che Guevara has resigned and left the country
- October 4 - Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of British Commonwealth begin negotiations in London - they end on October 8 without results
- October 5 - Pakistan sever diplomatic relations with Malaysia because of the disagreement in UN
- October 5 - The Beatles are set to release their song 'Love Me Do' on Parlophone
- October 6 - Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, the Moors Murderers, arrested.
- October 8 - Indonesian army arrests and executes communists
- October 8 - Olympic Committee admits East Germany as a member
- October 8 - The Post Office Tower opens in London
- October 9 - Yale University presents the "Vinland map"
- October 9 - Brigade of South Korean soldiers arrive in South Vietnam
- October 10 - First group of Cuban refugees travels to USA
- October 12 - Per Borten forms a government in Norway
- October 12 - UN general council recommends that United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia
- October 13 - President of Congo, Joseph Kasavubu, fires Prime Minister and forms a provisional government with in a lead
- 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 16 - Suharto takes power in Indonesia
- October 17 - NY World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, NY, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected improvements on the park on the site fail to materialize.
- October 18 - Indonesian government declares communist party illegal
- October 20 - Ludwig Erhard elected as Chancellor in West Germany
- October 21 -
- October 21 - OAU meeting begins in Accra
- October 22 - French authors and are fined for their comments against Charles De Gaulle
- October 22 - African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence
- October 24 - British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations
- October 25 - Soviet Union declares its support of African countries in case Rhodesia unilaterally declares independence
- October 26
- October 27 - Brazilian president Branco removes power of parliament, legal courts and opposition parties
- October 28 - French foreign minister travels to Moscow
- October 28 - Pope Paul VI announces that ecumenical council has decided that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ
- October 28 - In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed
- October 29 - Kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka
- 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.
- October 31 - Indonesian army announces that it is fighting with communist guerillas in Java
November
- November 2 - Republican John V. Lindsay elected mayor of New York City
- November 3 - Charles De Gaulle announces that he will stand in next presidential election
- November 5 - Martial law announced in Rhodesia. UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary with a vote of 82-9.
- November 6 - 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 (VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY and portions of NJ) 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 Movement 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 - In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white minority regime of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence
- November 12 - UN Security Council resolution (voted 10-0) recommends that other countries would not recognize independent Rhodesia
- November 13 - The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau with the loss of 90 lives.
- 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 15 - US racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mph
- 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 16 - Disney launches Epcot Center
- November 20 - UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia
- November 23 - Soviet general becomes commander of Warsaw Pact
- November 24 - Queen Elizabeth of Belgium dies
- November 24 - Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousts Joseph Kasavubu and declares himself president
- November 26 - At the launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches 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.
- November 29 - Canadian satellite Alouette 2 is launched.
December
Unknown dates
Births
January-February
- January 9 - Joely Richardson, British actress
- January 11 - Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy and nephew of U.S president John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- January 14 - Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player
- January 15 - Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)
- January 18 - Dave Attell, American comedian
- January 20 - Sophie, Countess of Wessex
- January 20 - John Michael Montgomery, American singer
- January 22 - DJ Jazzy Jeff, American rapper and actor
- January 22 - Diane Lane, American actress
- January 27 - Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
- January 29 - Dominik Hasek, Czech hockey player
- February 1 - Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
- February 1 - Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
- February 1 - Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
- February 11 - Stephen Gregory, American actor
- February 18 - Dr. Dre, American rapper and music producer
- February 22 - Scott Lowell, American actor
- February 23 - Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer
March-April
- March 1 - Stewart Elliott, Canadian jockey
- March 4 - Gary Helms, American kick-boxer
- March 7 - Jesper Parnevik, Swedish golfer
- March 9 - Benito Santiago, baseball player
- March 10 - Rod Woodson, American football player
- March 11 - Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter
- March 12 - Steve Finley, baseball player
- March 14 - Kevin Brown, baseball player
- March 24 - Mark Calaway, American professional wrestler
- March 25 - Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress
- March 25 - Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper and president of the Bulgarian olympic committee
- April 1 - Robert Steadman, English composer
- April 4 - Robert Downey Jr., American actor
- April 7 - Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian
- April 15 - Linda Perry, American musician
- April 16 - Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
- April 21 - Ed Belfour, Canadian hockey player
- April 26 - Kevin James, American comedian and actor
- April 28 - Steven Blum, American voice actor
May-June
- May 7 - Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
- May 9 - Steve Yzerman, Canadian hockey player
- May 14 - Eoin Colfer, Irish writer
- May 16 - Krist Novoselic, American bassist (Nirvana)
- May 17 - Trent Reznor, American musician (Nine Inch Nails)
- May 28 - Chris Ballew, American musician
- May 31 - Brooke Shields, American actress
- June 1 - Nigel Short, English chess player
- June 4 - Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
- June 7 - Mick Foley, American professional wrestler and author
- June 10 - Elizabeth Hurley, English actress
- June 15 - Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
- June 16 - Charika Corea, Sri Lankan autism campaigner
July-August
- July 1 - Harald Zwart, Norwegian film director
- July 11 - Ernesto Hoost, Dutch kickboxer
- July 17 - Craig Morgan, American singer
- July 18 - Michael Sharrett, American actor
- July 19 - Stuart Scott, American sports reporter
- July 20 - Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver nephew of John F Kennedy and son of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Mary Kennedy
- July 21 - Guðni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
- July 22 - Shawn Michaels, American professional wrestler
- July 23 - Slash, American musician, guitar ledgend, Guns N' Roses
- July 26 - Sandra Bullock, American actress
- July 28 - Lori Loughlin, American actress
- July 31 - J. K. Rowling, English author
- August 10 - Mike Smith, American jockey
- August 10 - John Starks, American basketball player
- August 14 - Emmanuelle Béart, French actress
- August 18 - Koji Kikkawa, Japanese singer
- August 24 - Reggie Miller, American basketball player
- August 28 - Shania Twain, American singer and songwriter
September-December
- September 2 - Lennox Lewis, British boxer
- September 11 - Moby, American musician
- September 21 - Cheryl Hines, American actress
- September 20 - Robert Rusler, American actor
- September 25 - Scottie Pippen, American basketball player
- October 1 - Andreas Keller, German field hockey player
- October 5 - Mario Lemieux, Canadian hockey player
- October 5 - Patrick Roy, Canadian hockey player
- October 8 - C-Jay Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones)
- October 26 - Kenneth Rutherford, New Zealand cricket captains
- October 14 - Constantine Koukias, Australian Composer
- October 30 - Gavin Rossdale, English musician
- November 2 - Shahrukh Khan, Indian actor
- November 6 - Greg Graffin, American singer (Bad Religion)
- November 7 - Sigrun Wodars, German athlete
- November 9 - Bryn Terfel, Welsh baritone
- November 10 - Eddie Irvine,
- November 21 - Björk, Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician
- November 21 - Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born actor
- November 25 - Cris Carter, American football player
- November 25 - Bernie Kosar, American football player
- November 30 - Ben Stiller, American actor
- December 3 - Steve Harris, American actor
- December 3 - Katarina Witt, German figure skater
- December 21 - Andy Dick, American actor
- December 27 - Salman Khan, Indian actor
- December 29 - Dexter Holland, American singer (The Offspring)
- December 30 - Zoe Kelli Simon, American actress
Deaths
January-March
- January 4 - T. S. Eliot, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- January 12 - Lorraine Hansberry, American writer (b. 1930)
- January 14 - Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (b. 1903)
- January 20 - Alan Freed, American disc jockey (b. 1922)
- January 24 - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1874)
- January 28 - Maxime Weygand, French soldier (b. 1867)
- January 28 - Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
- February 13 - Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, Swiss-born socialite (b. 1906)
- February 15 - Nat King Cole, American singer and musician (b. 1919)
- February 21 - Malcolm X, American black activist (assassinated) (b. 1925)
- February 22 - Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1882)
- February 23 - Stan Laurel, British actor (b. 1890)
- February 26 - George Adamski, Polish-born UFO traveler (b. 1891)
- March 6 - Margaret Dumont, American actress (b. 1889)
- March 13 - Corrado Gini, Italian statistician (b. 1884)
- March 13 - Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop, poet, and political figure (b. 1882)
- March 17 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, baseball, basketball, and American football player and coach (b. 1862)
- March 18 - King Farouk I of Egypt (b. 1920)
- March 28 - Mary, Princess Royal (b. 1897)
- March 30 - Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
April-December
- April 3 - - Ernst Kirchweger, Austrian communist and resistance fighter
- April 21 - Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- May 23 - Earl Webb, baseball player (b. 1897)
- May 25 - Sonny Boy Williamson, American blues musician (b. 1899)
- June 15 - E. A. Speiser, American Bible scholar (b. 1902)
- June 28 - Red Nichols, American jazz cornettist (b. 1905)
- July 1 - Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903)
- July 7 - Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel
- July 30 - Junichiro Tanizaki, Japanese writer (b. 1886)
- August 27 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect
- August 28 - Giulio Racah, Israeli physicist (b. 1909)
- September 2 - Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (b. 1905)
- September 4 - Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician and missionary, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1875)
- September 8 - Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
- September 14 - J.W. Hearne English cricketer (b. 1891)
- September 15 - Steve Brown, American musician (b. 1890)
- October 12 - Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- November 6 - Edgar Varèse French-born composer (b. 1883)
- November 6 - Clarence Williams, American musician (b. 1893)
- November 16 - W.T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council of Ireland (b. 1880)
- November 25 - Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (b. 1890)
- December 5 - Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- December 16 - W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (b. 1874)
Nobel Prizes