What happened in 1965

World13

• Feb 12The 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).
• Apr 6The Intelsat I ("Early Bird") communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.
• Jun 22The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed in Tokyo.
• Jul 14U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.
• Sep 8The Pakistan Navy destroys the Indian port of Dwarka. Operation Dwarka (Pakistan celebrates Victory Day annually).
• Oct 4Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London.
• Oct 12The U.N. General Council recommends that the United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia.
• Oct 22African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
• Nov 5Martial 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.
• Nov 11In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares de facto independence ('UDI').
• Dec 8Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith warns that Rhodesia will resist a trade embargo by neighboring countries with force.
• Dec 15Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.
• Dec 30President 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.

North America21

• Feb 15The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign flag.
• Feb 20Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• Feb 21Malcolm X is gunned down while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.
• Mar 7"Bloody Sunday": Some 200 Alabama State Troopers attack 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, as they attempt to march to the state capitol of Montgomery.
• Mar 9The "Turnaround Tuesday" march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., stops at the site of "Bloody Sunday", to hold a prayer service and return to Selma, in obedience to a court restraining order. On the same day, White supremacists attack three white ministers, leaving Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb in a coma.
• Mar 23Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
• Apr 5At 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 performance in the title role. Sherman Brothers receives 2 Oscars including Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee".
• Jun 3Launch of Gemini 4, a 4-day mission during which Ed White performs the first space walk by an American astronaut.
• Jul 30War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
• Aug 6U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices that have been responsible for widespread disfranchisement of African Americans.
• Aug 11Racial rioting in the Los Angeles, California neighborhood of Watts breaks out after an African American motorist, Marquette Frye, is stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. Six days of unrest are quelled by over 14,000 members of the California National Guard. There are 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage. It is the largest and costliest urban rebellion of the Civil Rights movement.
• Aug 21NASA launches Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) on the first 1-week space flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power on such a mission.
• Oct 4The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.
• Nov 22The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• Dec 21The United Nations adopts the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

6 more in the app

Europe10

• Jan 29Hakametsä, the first ice rink of Finland, is inaugurated in Tampere.
• Jan 30The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place in London with the largest assembly of dignitaries in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.
• Mar 20"Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall (music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 (staged in Naples) for Luxembourg.
• Apr 24The 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).
• Jul 16The Mont Blanc Tunnel, a highway tunnel between France and Italy, is inaugurated by presidents Charles de Gaulle and Giuseppe Saragat.
• JulAugust 15 – The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium in New York City, making the first stadium concert in the US.
• Sep 30The classic family sci-fi show Thunderbirds debuts on ITV in the United Kingdom.
• Oct 28Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, a "Declaration on the Relation of the (Roman Catholic) Church with Non-Christian Religions" by the Second Vatican Council which includes a statement that Jews are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus (Jewish deicide).
• Dec 5Charles de Gaulle is re-elected as French president with 10,828,421 votes.
• Dec 8The Race Relations Act becomes the first legislation to address racial discrimination in the UK.

USSR / Russia4

• Mar 18Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov leaves his Voskhod 2 spacecraft for 12 minutes, becoming the first person to walk in space.
• Apr 24The 1965 Yerevan demonstrations start in Yerevan, demanding recognition of the Armenian genocide.
• Nov 16Venera 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).
• Dec 5The "Glasnost Meeting" in Moscow becomes the first spontaneous political demonstration, and the first demonstration for civil rights in the Soviet Union.

Asia13

• Mar 2Vietnam War: Operation Rolling Thunder – The United States Air Force 2nd Air Division, United States Navy and South Vietnamese air force begin a 3-year aerial bombardment campaign against North Vietnam.
• Mar 20The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.
• May 1The Battle of Dong-Yin occurs as a conflict between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.
• Jun 10Vietnam War – Battle of Dong Xoai: About 1,500 Viet Cong mount a mortar attack on Đồng Xoài, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound.
• Jul 26The Maldives obtains full independence from Great Britain.
• Aug 7Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, recommends the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia following a deterioration of PAP–UMNO relations, negotiating its separation with Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore.
• Aug 9Proclamation of Singapore: Singapore is expelled from the Federation of Malaysia, which recognises it as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew announces Singapore's independence and assumes the position of Prime Minister of the new island nation – a position he holds until 1990.
• Aug 18Vietnam 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.
• Sep 2Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula, south of the Chu Lai Marine base.
• Sep 8Indo-Pakistani war:
• Sep 19Pakistani Forces achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of Chawinda, ultimately halting the Indian advance and successfully stabilizing the Sialkot Front; it is the world's largest tank battle since the Battle of Kursk in the Second World War between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
• Oct 8Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966: The Indonesian army instigates the arrest and execution of communists which last until next March.
• Nov 14Vietnam 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.

Latin America2

• Apr 26TV Globo is founded (officially aired) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Apr 28U.S. troops occupy the Dominican Republic.

Africa4

• Feb 18The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• Mar 23Events of March 23, 1965: Large student demonstration in Morocco, joined by discontented masses, meets with violent police and military repression.
• Sep 21Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.
• Nov 26At the Hammaguir launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant A rocket with its first satellite, Astérix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter outer space.