Important Events in 1965
- Jan 30 State Funeral of Winston Churchill at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Then world's largest ever state funeral.
- Mar 18 Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space
- Mar 22 US confirms its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong
- May 5 First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
- Jun 7 The Supreme Court of the United States decides on Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples
- Aug 6 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act prohibiting voting discrimination against minorities
- Aug 9 Singapore separates from the Federation of Malaysia and gains its independence
- Sep 8 A small ad in New York’s Daily Variety attracts 437 young men interested in forming the world’s first manufactured boy band, "The Monkees"
- Sep 22 India and Pakistan cease-fire goes into effect, ending the Indo-Pakistani War
- Dec 7 Pope Paul VI & Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that led to split of 2 churches in 1054
- Dec 8 Pope Paul VI signs 2nd Vatican council
More Historical Events
1965 in Film & TV
- Mar 2 One of the most popular musical films of all time, "The Sound of Music", starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1966)
- Apr 28 Barbra Streisand stars on "My Name is Barbra" special on CBS
1965 in Music
- Feb 6 Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" hits #1
- Apr 26 Charles Ives' 4th Symphony premieres at Carnegie Hall, New York, 11 years after the composer's death
- Jun 15 Bob Dylan records single "Like a Rolling Stone" (#1 in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time")
- Jul 25 Bob Dylan is booed by sections of the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival for performing with an electric guitar, beginning of folk-rock
1965 in Sport
- Sep 2 Cubs slugger Ernie Banks hits his MLB 400th career HR (off Curt Simmons) in Chicago's 5-3 win v St. Louis at Wrigley Field; Simmons also gave up Willie Mays' 400th HR in 1963
- Sep 18 Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee Stadium: Mantle play his 2,000th game
Did You Know?
"Vinland Map" is introduced by Yale University as being the first known map of America, drawn about 1440
On October 10, 1965
Famous People in 1965
Julie Christie
ActressLee Marvin
Oscar for Best ActorWilliam Westmoreland
Time Person
of the Year
World Leaders in 1965
Leonid Brezhnev
Soviet General SecretaryLyndon B. Johnson
36th US PresidentMao Zedong
Chinese Revolutionary and Chairman of the Communist Party
Would You Believe?
The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000, said to have been most powerful Confederate cruiser, discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.
On March 19, 1965
Famous Weddings in 1965
- Jan 1 Novelist Michael Crichton (22) weds high school sweetheart Joan Radam
- Feb 11 Beatle Ringo Starr marries Maureen Cox
- Mar 26 Playwright Tom Stoppard (28) weds nurse Josie Ingle
More Weddings & Divorces
1965 in Articles and Photos
Funeral of Winston Churchill
Churchill's cortege in London during the funeral
January 30, 1965Nat King Cole's Struggle With Racism
Sure, he had unique talent and a golden voice, but as Nat King Cole, who died on this day, was to discover, that wasn't enough for American racists.
February 15, 19651st Person to Walk in Space
Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov conducts the first spacewalk during the Voshkod 2 mission
March 18, 1965Ali Floors The Bear in Just Two Minutes
It was the Muhammad Ali punch that few people saw, but on this day ex-champion Sonny Liston, known as The Bear, certainly felt it in a first-round sensation
May 25, 1965Singapore Leaves Malaysia
Front page of The Straits Times announcing Singapore Independence
August 9, 1965Hey, Hey – We're The Monkees
We have the formula, the music and the female fans standing by ready to scream. All we need now is four likely lads to form the band. Enter "The Monkees".
September 8, 1965