This is a list of events in 1965 in politics.
Events
January
February
- February 18 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- February 21 - African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City.
- February 23 - Herberts Cukurs, a Latvian aviator, mass murderer and former Nazi collaborator is unofficially executed by Mossad.
March
- March 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.
- March 8 - Some 3,500 United States Marines arrive in Da Nang, South Vietnam, becoming the first American ground combat troops in Vietnam.
- March 9 - The second attempt, known as , to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, 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.
- March 16 - Police clash with 600 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee marchers in Montgomery, Alabama.
- March 17 - In response to the events of March 7 and 9 in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon B. Johnson sends a bill to Congress that forms the basis for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is passed by the Senate May 26, the House July 10, and signed into law by President Johnson August 6.
- March 18 - A United States federal judge rules that SCLC has the lawful right to march to Montgomery, Alabama, to petition for "redress of grievances".
- March 20 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.
- March 22 â Nicolae CeauÃÂescu becomes the first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, after the death of previous leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej earlier that year.
- March 23 - Large student demonstration in Morocco, joined by discontented masses, is met with violent police and military repression.
- March 25 - Martin Luther King Jr. and 25,000 civil rights activists successfully complete the 4-day march from Selma, Alabama, to the capitol in Montgomery.
- March 30 - The second ODECA charter, signed on December 12, 1962, becomes effective.
April
May
June
July
August
- August 4 - The Cook Islands becomes a free New Zealand-associated state, with its own constitution.
- August 6 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices.
- August 9 - Singapore leaves Malaysia.
- August 11 - The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles, ending on the 16th after resulting in 34 deaths and over 3,000 arrests.
- August 18 - Vietnam War â 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.
- August 19 - At the conclusion of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, 66 ex-SS personnel receive life sentences, 15 others smaller ones.
- August 20 - Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from Keene, New Hampshire, is murdered in Hayneville, Alabama, while working in the civil rights movement.
- August 31 - President Johnson signs a law penalizing the burning of draft cards with up to 5 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.
September
October
- October 3 - Fidel Castro announces that Che Guevara has resigned and left the country.
- October 3 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which ends quotas based on national origin.
- October 4 - Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London.
- October 5 - Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with Malaysia because of disagreement in the UN.
- October 8 - Indonesian mass killings of 1965âÂÂ1966: The Indonesian army instigates the arrest and execution of communists which last until next March.
- October 9 - A brigade of South Korean soldiers arrive in South Vietnam.
- October 12 - The U.N. recommends that the United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia.
- October 12 - Per Borten replaces Einar Gerhardsen as prime minister of Norway.
- October 13 - Congo President Joseph Kasavubu fires Prime Minister Moise Tshombe and forms a provisional government, with ÃÂvariste Kimba in a leading position.
- October 15 - Vietnam War: The Catholic Worker Movement stages an anti-war protest in Manhattan. One draft card burner is arrested, the first under the new law.
- October 16 - Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world
- October 18 - The Indonesian government outlaws the Communist Party of Indonesia.
- October 20 - Ludwig Erhard is re-elected Chancellor of West Germany (he had first been elected in 1963).
- October 21 - The Organization of African Unity meets in Accra, Ghana.
- October 22 - African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
- October 22 - Colonel Christophe Soglo stages a second coup in Dahomey.
- October 24 - British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
- October 25 - The Soviet Union declares its support of African countries in case Rhodesia unilaterally declares independence.
- October 26 - Anti-government demonstrations occur in the Dominican Republic.
- October 27 - Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (30th government).
- October 27 - Brazilian president Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco removes power from parliament, legal courts and all opposition parties.
- October 28 - French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville travels to Moscow.
- October 28 - Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan politician, is kidnapped in Paris and never seen again
- October 28 - Pope 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.
- October 30 - In Washington, D.C., a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.
November
- November 2 - Republican John Vliet Lindsay is elected mayor of New York City.
- November 2 - Quaker Norman Morrison, 32, sets himself on fire in front of The Pentagon; he dies of his injuries.
- November 3 - French President Charles de Gaulle announces (just short of his 75th birthday) that he will stand for re-election.
- November 5 - Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The United Nations General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82âÂÂ9.
- November 8 - Vietnam War â Operation Hump: The United States Army 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong
- November 8 - The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches islands.
- November 8 - The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, suspending the death penalty for murder in the United Kingdom.
- November 9 -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 against the Vietnam War.
- November 11 - In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares de facto independence
- November 12 - A UN Security Council resolution (voted 10âÂÂ0) recommends that other countries not recognize independent Rhodesia.
- November 14 - 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.
- November 20 - The United Nations Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
- November 22 - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
- November 23 - Soviet general Mikhail Kazakov assumes command of the Warsaw Pact.
- November 24 - Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousts Joseph Kasavubu and declares himself president.
- November 26 - At 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.
- November 27 - Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters picket the White House, then march on the Washington Monument.
- November 27 - The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned major sweep operations to neutralize Viet Cong forces during the next year are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam will have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.
- November 28 - Vietnam War: In response to U.S. 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.
December
Deaths
January 24
February 21
- Malcolm X African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist is assassinated in New York City.
March 11
November 18
References