- Vietnam war escalation begins, 150,000 US troops deployed to Vietnam.
- Rhodesia makes Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, in order to preserve white minority rule.
- Japan's Bullet Train Opens
- New York City Great Blackout
- US marines land in the Dominican Republic as fighting persists between rebels and Dominican army (April 28).
- France withdraws its Atlantic fleet from NATO.

View the TOP 100 Songs of 1965

U.S. NEWS & EVENTS
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 2,600 others arrested in Selma, Ala., during demonstrations against voter-registration rules (Feb. 1).
- Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, shot to death at Harlem rally (Feb. 21).
- Blacks riot for six days in Watts section of Los Angeles: 34 dead, over 1,000 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested (Aug. 11-16).

SPORTS
World Series
LA Dodgers d. Minnesota (4-3)
NBA Championship
Boston d. LA Lakers (4-1)
Stanley Cup
Montreal d. Chicago (4-3)
Wimbledon
Women: Margaret Smith d. M. Bueno (6-4 7-5)
Men: Roy Emerson d. F. Stolle (6-2 6-4 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Lucky Debonair
NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. Michigan (91-80)
NCAA Football Champions
Alabama (AP, FW-tie) (9-1-1) & Michigan St. (UPI, NFF, FW-tie) (10-1-0)

ENTERTAINMENT
Events
- The Sound of Music premieres. An instant hit, the film was one of the top-grossing films of 1965 and remains one of film's most popular musicals.
- ABC pays an unprecedented $32 million for a four-year contract with the NCAA to broadcast football games on Saturday afternoons.
- Bill Cosby, starring in I Spy, becomes the first African American to headline a television show.

NOTABLE DEATHS
- Winston Churchill - Nat King Cole - T.S. Eliot - Adlai Stevenson