Year: 1965
- The original Shamu the Whale is captured and brought to SeaWorld. She died in 1971 and all subsequent orcas were named Shamu.
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr began a drive to register black voters.
- President Johnson outlined the goals of his "Great Society" in his State of the Union address. The "Great Society" was to be achieved through a vast program that included an attack on diseases, a doubling of the war on poverty, greater enforcement of Civil Rights Law, immigration law reform and greater support of education.
- Charles Robert Jenkins deserted his US Army post at the Korean DMZ hoping to be arrested, turned over to Russia and returned to the US. His plan failed and he ended up living in North Korea where he married Hitomi Soga, a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s.
- The Star of India and other stolen gems were returned to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
- Two US planes were shot down in Laos while on a combat mission.
- Sir Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister, suffered a severe stroke and died 5 days later from a cerebral thrombosis.
- Eighteen were arrested in Mississippi for the murder of three civil rights workers.
- In Selma, Alabama, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and 770 of his followers were arrested on their civil rights march. They protested against voter discrimination in Alabama.
- A Viet Cong raid on a base in Pleiku, South Vietnam, killed 9 US soldiers. U.S. jets hit Don Hoi guerrilla base in reprisal for the Viet Cong raids. President Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam following these deaths.
- Cassius Clay became a Muslim and adopted the name Muhammad Ali.
- Malcolm X’s home was firebombed. No injuries were reported. A week later, Malcolm X was shot to death in front of 400 people in New York by assassins identified as Black Muslims. He was murdered at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. His wife, Betty Shabazz, was pregnant with twins and sat in the audience along with his 4-year-old daughter Quibilah. Three men, Norman 3X Butler (Abdul Aziz), Khalil Islam, and Thomas Hagan, connected to the Nation of Islam were convicted for the assassination.
- Canada replaced the Union Jack flag with the Maple Leaf in ceremonies in Ottawa.
- The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back 7,000 photos of the lunar surface.
- The U.S. announced that it would send 3,500 troops to Vietnam.
- The first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod 2 capsule and remained outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes, secured by a tether.
- Martin Luther King Jr. led more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators on the 50-mile march to Montgomery from Selma. President Johnson ordered 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers following violence at previous marches.
- US confirmed its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong in South Vietnam.
- The newly built Houston Astrodome featured its first baseball game, an exhibition between the Astros and the New York Yankees. Mickey Mantle hit the 1st indoor homerun, but the Astros won, 2-1 in 12 innings.
- India and Pakistan engaged in a border fight.
- A series of tornados left 256 people dead in the US Midwest.
- Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its 1st anti-Vietnam war protest rally in Washington DC. Daniel Ellsburg helped Patricia Marx tape the event for public radio.
- RC Duncan patented "Pampers," a disposable diaper.
- U.S. Army and Marines under US President Lyndon Johnson invaded the Dominican Republic to stop a civil war. Johnson sent 22,800 troops at the urging of Thomas Mann, a high state department official. The troops stayed until stay until October 1966.
- Australian government announced it would send troops to Vietnam.
- Spaghetti-O's were first sold.
- "Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious" hit #66 on the Billboard Music charts.
- Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in 1st round for heavyweight boxing title.
- Vivian Malone became the first black graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Business Management.
- Near Fukuoka, Japan, a coal mine explosion killed 236.
- In June, the 2nd of two cyclones in less than a month killed 35,000 along the Ganges River in East Pakistan.
- Astronaut Edward White became the first American to "walk" in space, during the flight of Gemini 4, which completed 62 orbits.
- President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized commanders in Vietnam to commit U.S. ground forces to combat.
- Big Bang theory of creation of universe was supported by announcement of discovery of new celestial bodied know as blue galaxies.
- In California a blazing engine tore from the Pan American Flight 843. The engine plunged into San Bruno and a piece of the wing fell into South San Francisco. The plane with 153 passengers landed safely at Travis airport.
- Mount Blanc Road tunnel between France & Italy opened.
- US Navy pilot Jeremiah Denton was shot down over North Vietnam as he flew in on the Thanh Hoa Bridge on the Ma River. He spent the next seven years and seven months in prison camps.
- Republic of Maldives gained independence from Britain.
- President Johnson signed a bill requiring cigarette makers to print health warnings on all cigarette packages about the effects of smoking.
- President Johnson signed into law the Medicare bill, which went into effect the following year.
- British Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escaped prison and spent the next 35 years on lam between Paris, Australia, Panama and Brazil.
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed and signed by President Johnson. It outlawed the literacy test for voting eligibility in the South.
- Singapore proclaimed its independence from the Malaysian Federation. Singapore became independent from Britain and was booted from the Malayan federation. Lee Kuan Yew became the new prime minister. This day is marked annually as Singapore’s National Day.
- Rioting and looting broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles. A small clash between the California Highway Patrol and two black youths sets off six days of rioting in the Watts area of Los Angeles. The riots ended after six days with the help of 20,000 National Guardsmen; the riots left 34 dead, 857 injured, over 2,200 arrested, and property valued at $200 million destroyed.
- Operation Starlite marked the beginning of major U.S. ground combat operations in Vietnam.
- Hurricane Betsy killed 75 in Louisiana & Florida. Betsy left New Orleans under 7 feet of water.
- US Navy pilot James Stockdale was shot down in Vietnam. He was beaten, tortured and taken to Hoa Lo prison (Hanoi Hilton) and released in 1973.
- The TV show "Lost in Space," with its Space Family Robinson and robot premiered on CBS. It was set in the year 1997.
- Seven U.S. planes were downed in one day over Vietnam.
- Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
- U.S. forces in Saigon, South Vietnam, received permission to use tear gas.
- The "Vinland Map" was introduced by Yale University as being the 1st known map of America, drawn about 1440 by Norse explorer Lief Eriksson.
- The Orlando Sentinel announced that Disney is coming to Orlando, Florida. Disney World property, 27,000 acres, was purchased by Disney for $5 million.
- The Gateway Arch designed by Eero Saarinen, was completed in St Louis, Missouri.
- Pope Paul VI issued a decree, Nostra Aetate, absolving Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- A fireworks explosions killed 50 in Cartagena, Colombia.
- In Cairo, Egypt, a trackless trolley plunged into Nile River drowning 74.
- A major power failure hit the East Coast of the US. New York City experienced a major blackout just after 5:30 PM. In the great Northeast blackout several US states and parts of Canada were hit by a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours. Nine Northeastern states and parts of Canada went dark in the worst power failure in history, when a switch at a station near Niagara Falls failed.
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