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1965 Major News Events in History

  1. Race Riots Break Out In Watts, California leaving large parts of the city burnt and looted and 34 dead.
  2. Northeast blackout including Parts of Canada and U.S. North East
  3. St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed ( The St Louis Arch ).
  4. The Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote becomes law
  5. The Gemini Space Program continues into 1965 and lay the groundwork for an eventual manned mission to the moon.
  6. The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak on April 13th : An estimated fifty-one tornadoes (forty-seven confirmed) hit in six Midwestern states
  7. The popular daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives" debuted on NBC
  8. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads civil rights march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery.
  9. Malcolm X shot in New York
  10. Lyndon B. Johnson announces his program to create Medicare and to expand his war on poverty

More Detailed Information on each Event and those not included can be found below

What Happened in 1965 Important News and Events, Key Technology and Popular Culture

What happened in 1965 Major News Stories include Mary Quant designed Northeast blackout including Parts of Canada and U.S. North East, Mini Skirt appears in London, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads civil rights march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery, The Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote becomes law, Operation Rolling Thunder Launched In Vietnam, St. Louis, Gateway Arch is completed, Race Riots Break Out In Watts, California

1965 the war in Vietnam continues to worsen as whatever the Americans do including major bombing of North Vietnam they continue to lose more men , at the same time the Anti-War movement grows and on November 13 35,000 march on Washington as a protest against the war. There is also civil unrest with rioting, looting and arson in Los Angeles. This was also the first year mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packets and smoking became a no no. The latest craze in kids toys was the Super Ball and The Skate Board. Fashions also changed as women's skirts got shorter men's hair grew longer as the The miniskirt makes its appearance. The word Hypertext is created to describe linking in early computer systems and computer networking. The St Louis Arch is completed and The Beatles release 4 new albums including "Help".

Watts Riots

Race Riots Break Out In Watts, California leaving large parts of the city burnt and looted and 34 dead. August 11

More Information and Timeline For 1965 Race Riots in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California

1. August 11 7.00 PM California highway patrolman, Lee Minikus, arrests Marquette Frye after Frye failed his sobriety tests.

2. August 11 7.00 PM to 7.23 PM Crowd of a few hundred gathered around the scene

3. August 11 7.00 PM to 7.23 PM Additional Police are bought in for crowd control

4. August 11 7.23 PM Patrolman, Lee Minikus arrests three Frye family members Marquette, his brother Ronald, and their mother

5. August 11 7:40 PM Police leave the scene with those they have arrested leaving behind an angered, tense crowd

6. August 11 8.00 PM to Midnight angry mob goes on rampage including stoning cars and threatened police in the area.

7. August 12 Black leaders including preachers, teachers, and businessmen try to restore order in the community

8. August 13 News Events Rioting continues with an increase of looting and arson with 100 fire brigades trying to put out fires started by rioters

9. August 13 14,000 national guardsmen are called in and join the police trying to maintain order on the streets

10. August 14 Lieutenant Governor Anderson appeared on television announcing the curfew which made it a crime for any unauthorized persons to be on the streets in the curfew area after 8:00 p.m

11. August 15 riots and vandalism end

12. August 17 Governor Brown lifts the curfew

The riots ended with 34 dead and 1,032 reported injuries, including 90 Los Angeles police officers, 136 firemen, 10 national guardsmen, 23 persons from other governmental agencies, and 773 civilians. More than 600 buildings were damaged by burning and looting and another 200 buildings were destroyed,

Northeast blackout including Parts of Canada and U.S. North East

Several U.S. states (VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY and portions of NJ) and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 1/2 hours. 30 million people

More Information and Timeline For 1965 Northeast Blackout

1. November 6th Maintenance personnel incorrectly set protective relay too low on a transmission line between the Niagara generating station Sir Adam Beck Station No. 2 in Queenston, Ontario

2. November 9th 5:16 p.m small surge of power coming from Lewiston, New York's Robert Moses generating plant caused the improperly set relay to trip at far below the line's rated capacity

3. November 9th 5:16 p.m following the trip of the improperly set relay power is distributed to the other transmission lines where the protective relays acted correctly and ceased power transmission

4. November 9th 5:16 p.m Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations is isolated from Southern Ontario

5. November 9th 5:20 p.m Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations excess power headed east over the interconnected lines into New York State overloading them as well

6. November 9th 5:23 p.m Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations with no where to transmit power are automatically shut down to prevent damage.

7. November 9th 5:27 p.m Most of New York City is blacked out without power

8. November 9th 5:27 p.m The affected power areas were the Ontario Hydro System, St Lawrence-Oswego, Upstate New York, New England, and Maine.

9. November 10th 7:00 a.m Between 9.00 p.m on 9th November and 7.00 a.m on 10th November most of the areas affected were returned to full power.

This one incident shows that a minor mistake caused by human error can easily cause a major problem that affects millions of people's lives.

The Gateway Arch

In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed ( The St Louis Arch ).

More Information for the completion of the Gateway Arch.

The Gateway Arch, located in St. Louis, Missouri, was completed during October when the final top section of the monument was put in place. The Gateway Arch was created as a landmark to memorialize the symbolic gateway between the Eastern United States and the West. It was designed by Eero Saarinen who won a design competition for the arch in 1947 and it took four years of construction to complete. The monument is 630 foot tall, 630 foot wide and made with stainless steel.

1965 Voting Rights Act

The Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote becomes law

More Information and Timeline For 1965 Voting Rights Act

1. Mid 1800's Jim Crow laws dating back to the mid 1800's were for the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks.

2. 1963 October 7th 300 Dallas County blacks line up to register to vote in Selma, Dallas County, Alabama After waiting all day in the hot sun, only a handful of the hundreds in the line were allowed to fill out the voter application, and most of the applications were denied

3. 1964 July 2nd President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law which declared segregation illegal, yet the Jim Crow laws remained in effect.

4. 1964 November 3rd Following the election, civil rights organizations banded together to push for the passage of legislation that would ensure black voting rights once and for all

5. 1965 The voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama Launch a number of marches to bring about changes to the voting rights of African Americans

6. January 2nd Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed a mass meeting in Brown Chapel in defiance of an anti-meeting injunction.

7. February 18th C. T. Vivian led a march to the courthouse in Marion, the county seat of Perry County where state troopers rush the protesters and attack them. One of the protestors Jimmie Lee Jackson is shot and killed Alabama State Trooper, corporal James Bonard Fowler while hiding in a nearby cafe.

8. March 7th The first march takes place in Selma, Alabama as the marchers head east out of Selma on U.S. Highway 80 and cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge they find a wall of state troopers waiting for them on the other side, 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police with nightsticks and tear gas. Seventeen marchers were hospitalized, leading to the naming of the march as "Bloody Sunday"

9. March 8th Brutal televised images of the attack, which presented people with horrifying images of marchers left bloodied and severely injured, roused support for the U.S. civil rights movement. Newspapers and News Magazines around the world also showed similar photos which shocked the world bringing more support to the civil rights movement.

10. March 9th Federal District Court Judge Frank Minis Johnson issued a restraining order, preventing the Selma to Montgomery march from taking place until he could hold additional hearings later in the week

11. March 9th Martin Luther King, Jr. led about 2,500 marchers out to the Edmund Pettus Bridge and held a short prayer session before turning the marchers back around, thereby obeying the court order preventing them from marching all the way to Montgomery

12. March 9th later that evening three white ministers who had come for the march were attacked and beaten with clubs, The worst injured was James Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist who died in hospital on Thursday, March 11th

13. March 15th Following the televised images and critism of U.S. civil rights President Lyndon Baines Johnson presented a bill to a joint session of Congress. The bill itself would later pass and become the Voting Rights Act. Johnson's speech in front of Congress was considered to be a watershed moment for the civil rights movement; Johnson even used the movement's most famous slogan "We shall overcome".

14. March 16th Judge Johnson ruled in favor of the protestors, saying their First Amendment right to march in protest could not be abridged by the state of Alabama.

15. March 21st 8,000 people assembled at Brown Chapel in Selma to commence the march to Montgomery

16. March 21st to 25th Between 300 and 25,000 protesters marched the 50 miles between Selma and Montgomery ( numbers were limited by the number of lanes on a highway )

17. March 25th 25,000 people marched from St. Jude to the steps of the State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech "How Long, Not Long."

18. August 6 the 1965 Voting Rights Act is signed into law which prohibited most of the unfair practices used to prevent blacks from registering to vote, and provided for federal registrars to go to Alabama and other states with a history of voting-related discrimination to ensure that the law was implemented.

Cost of Living 1965 - How Much things cost

Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.59%

Year End Close Dow Jones 969

Average Cost of new house $13,600.00

Average Income per year $6,450.00 -

Average Cost of a new car $2,650.00 -

Average Monthly Rent $118,00

Cost of a gallon of Gas 31 cents

Loaf of bread 21 cents

Veal Cutlets 68 cents per pound

Frozen Chicken Pies 29 cents

Below are some Prices for UK guides in Pounds Sterling

Average House Price 3,660

Yearly Inflation Rate UK 5.0%

Few Examples of Houses For Sale

1965

Mansfield Ohio

Rambling Brick Ranch 3 large bedrooms, large bathroom, big basement fitted as recreation room , 2 car garage large 1 acre secluded plot
$22,500

1965

Appleton Wisconsin

New Subdivision lots 1/2 acre
from $550

1965

Lowell Massachusetts

Colonial Split level home 3 Bedroom , Garage , Laundry and Play room
$19,900

1965

Deming New Mexico

1/2 acre Plot Located close to country club
$1,950

Popular Culture 1965

The Mary Quant designed Mini Skirt appears in London and will be the fashion statement of the Sixties

One of most popular films "Sound of Music" released

The Beatles Release The Movie and Album Help!

The Beatles Play Live Concert Shea Stadium

The Grateful Dead with Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia play their first concert, in San Francisco


Popular Films

Mary Poppins

The Sound of Music

Goldfinger

My Fair Lady

What's New Pussycat?

Cat Ballou


Books Released

Dune

The Man with the Golden Gun

Hotel


Popular Musicians

The Beatles

The Rolling Stones

Freddie and the Dreamers

The Animals

The Kinks

The Searchers

The Seekers

Moody Blues

Donovan

Cilla Black

Dusty Springfield

Tom Jones

Simon and Garfunkel

Gemini Space Program

The Gemini Space Program continues into 1965 and lay the groundwork for an eventual manned mission to the moon.

More Information and Timeline for the Gemini Space Program

1, The Gemini Project was created with the goal of making a two-person spacecraft, testing long-term flights and weightlessness on humans, docking spacecraft with orbiting objects, and creating re-entry and landing methods all in preparation for an eventual manned mission to the moon. Half of the missions take place during .

2. The Gemini I mission launches in April of 1964.

3. The Gemini II unmanned spacecraft launched as a part of the Gemini Space Program on January 19, . The Gemini II craft had been scheduled to launch in December of 1964 but technical difficulties had prevented it from doing so. It had also been disassembled twice to avoid Hurricanes Cleo and Dora in August and September of 1964. Its launch was successful in its goals which included testing heat protection and structural integrity upon launch and re-entry, training controllers, and testing guidance steering among other tests.

4. The Gemini III mission launches in March and is the first of the Gemini missions to be manned. It carried astronauts Virgil Grissom and John Young.

5. The Gemini IV mission launches in June and carried astronauts Edward White and James McDivitt.

6. The Gemini V spacecraft launched on August 21st and carried astronauts Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper into orbit around the Earth. Their mission was to test long-term weightlessness and to test rendezvous procedures with other objects in space. They also tested maneuvering the spacecraft near other objects, controlled reentry, and several other experiments. The Gemini V mission set the record at the time for the longest crewed orbital flight, with the crew being in space for a total of 8 days. The spacecraft landed back on Earth successfully on August 29th, .

7. The Gemini missions, twelve in total, continued until November of 1966 and were important as they laid the foundation for the first moon landing and greatly enhanced knowledge about what humans can accomplish in space. Other astronauts that participate in the Gemini missions included James Lovell, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Richard Gordon.

Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak

The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak on April 13th : An estimated fifty-one tornadoes (forty-seven confirmed) hit in six Midwestern states killing anywhere from 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.

More Information for the Palm Sunday Tornado.

The Midwest region of the United States experienced a large tornado outbreak on Palm Sunday in 1965. In April tornadoes hit six states, including Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. There were a total of forty-seven tornadoes that were reported and confirmed and the storms caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage to the region. Over one thousand people were injured and there were 271 reported fatalities from the tornado outbreak.

"Days of Our Lives" debuts

The popular soap opera "Days of Our Lives" debuts.

More Information for Days of Our Lives.

The popular daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives" debuted on NBC during the month of November . Known for its complicated and shocking plot lines, the drama chronicled the fictional trials and tribulations of modern American families. During the Seventies, the show was recognized for tackling controversial and important subjects of the time like interracial relationships and fertility issues. Airing nearly every weekday, "Days of Our Lives" has currently shown over 12,000 episodes and continues to remain popular.

"Doctor Zhivago"

The popular film "Doctor Zhivago" premieres.

More Information for Doctor Zhivago.

The epic film "Doctor Zhivago" premieres in New York during December . The film starred Omar Sharif as the title character and Julie Christie as "Lara." The story, based on a 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak, followed two lovers who were torn apart during the Russian Revolution. The film has been consistently ranked as one of the best movies ever created by critics but was banned in the USSR. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five of them including Best Music, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay.

Ranger 8 Moon Mission

Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program.

More Information for the Ranger 8 Moon Mission.

The Ranger 8 moon mission launches from Cape Canaveral on February 17th . The purpose of the mission was to crash the Ranger 8 spacecraft into the surface of the moon as it took high resolution photos of the surface, in an effort to determine possible landing sites for future manned missions under the Apollo program. It was successful in its mission and Ranger 8 crashed into the surface on February 20th . There were a total of nine Ranger missions that began in 1959 and lasted until 1965, and the end goal of the collective program was to obtain high resolution photos of the moon's surface. The Ranger 7 mission achieved this goal but the Ranger 8 mission expanded upon it, with over 7,000 images taken of the surface before impact.

Ikeya-Seki Comet

The Ikeya-Seki comet is discovered by two Japanese astronomers during September.

More Information for Ikeya-Seki Comet.

The Ikeya-Seki comet was discovered during September by Japanese astronomers Ikeya Kaoru and Seki Tsutomu. The extremely bright comet was visible to the naked eye in the daylight during the next month as it made its closest approach to the Sun. The Ikeya-Seki comet was important in that it provided a unique opportunity for scientists to observe that type of comet for the first time using modern scientific instruments. The last time that a comet of this type had been spotted prior to the Ikeya-Seki comet was in 1882.

Civil rights march in Alabama

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads civil rights march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery.

More Information for the Selma/Montgomery March.

In March Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a peaceful demonstration for African-American civil rights and voting rights by marching from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama. The first two attempts at crossing the Pettus bridge were halted by state troopers, but on the third march the protesters were backed by the U.S. Army and National Guardsmen and allowed to pass through. King led about three-thousand people on the journey to the capitol and when they arrived in Montgomery they were met by about 30,000 more people who wished to join the demonstration. By August , President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, guaranteeing African-Americans the right to vote.

Anti-Vietnam Teach-In

University of California Berkeley hosts the largest anti-Vietnam teach-in during May.

More Information for the Anti-Vietnam Teach-In.

During May the largest anti-Vietnam teach-in took place at the University of California Berkeley. Tens of thousands of people attended the event which lasted for a day and a half and was held at a playing field at the university. The teach-in was organized by the Vietnam Day Committee and featured several notable speakers and attendees, including Norman Mailer, Norman Thomas, Dr. Benjamin Spock, and I.F. Stone. The organizers had also invited a representative of the U.S. State Department to speak in defense of President Johnson and the Vietnam war, but they declined the invitation.

1965 Mens and Womens Fashion Clothes

Fashion Clothing Examples From 1965 Lace Sheath Dress, Wrinkle Shy Blazer, Houndstooth Skirt, Wind Jacket, French Inspired Separates

Fashion Accessories Examples From 1965 Knit Cloche, Wing Tip Shoes, Tapered Center Crease Hat, Shoulder Pouch, Oxford Shoe

Toys From The Year 1965

1965 Toys including Barbie Fashion, Chatter Telephone, Tinker Toys, Bewitched Board Game, Skipper Doll, Transistor Record Player, G.I. Joe

More News and Key Events From 1965

Canada - Maple leaf

The Maple leaf becomes Canada's new national flag symbol

Rhodesia / Zimbabwe - independence

Rhodesia Declares Unilateral Independence From Great Britain and becomes Zimbabwe

India and Pakistan Fighting

India and Pakistan Fighting continues to escalate

UK -- Ronnie Biggs

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escapes from Wandsworth Prison and flees to Brazil.

U.S. -- Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI becomes the first Pope to visit the United States

UK -- Continental Shelf Act

Following the UK Continental Shelf Act ( 1964 ) The BP's Sea Gem rig finds gas in the West Sole field , the first major oil find did not occur until 1970 with the discovery of the Forties oil field

United States - Hurricane Betsy

Hurricane Betsy makes landfall in the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana causing $1 billion dollars worth of Damage

U.S. -- Malcolm X

Malcolm X shot in New York

UK - Race Relations Act

Britain brings in a new Race Relations Act hoping to stop some of the unrest in inner cities

UK -- Cigarette advertising

Cigarette advertising banned on Television in Britain

UK -- Post Office Tower

The Post Office Tower opens in London

Australia - Vietnam War

Australia Joins Vietnam War

India - Hindi

Hindi becomes the official language of India.

U.S. Jim Clark

Racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, and later wins the Formula One world driving championship in the same year.

U.S. - Troop Increase South Vietnam

Lyndon B. Johnson announces increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000

U.S. -- Medicare

Lyndon B. Johnson announces his program to create Medicare and to expand his war on poverty

U.S. - Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak

The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak on April 13th : An estimated fifty-one tornadoes (forty-seven confirmed) hit in six Midwestern states killing anywhere from 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.

UK - 70 mph speed limit

70 mph speed limit imposed on British roads

U.S. - Higher Education Act of 1965

Higher Education Act of 1965 is signed into law providing low-interest loans for students in higher education.

Civil War in Dominican Republic

US Citizens Evacuated due to Civil War in Dominican Republic

Indonesia

Following attempted coup by communists in Indonesia lead to the murder of over half million people and a transition to the new order led by Major General Suharto.

Vietnam - Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder Launched In Vietnam on June 15th

U.S. - Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet Gains controlling interest in Berkshire-Hathaway 1965 ( $18.00 per share ) in 2008 ( $150,000 per share )

U.S. - Civil Rights

Troopers violently confront civil rights marchers in Alabama

Cuba - US Airlift

US begins airlift of Cubans wishing to leave Cuba and live in America

Born This Year in 1965

Ty Pennington October 19th

Ben Stiller November 30th

Sarah Jessica Parker March 25th

J K Rowling July 31st

Robert Downey Jr April 4th

Viola Davis August 11th

Alan Cumming January 27th

Brooke Shields May 31st

The Undertaker March 24th

Charlie Sheen September 3rd

Technology

Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program

Ranger 9 sends back live TV broadcast when it crashes on to the moon

Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space

Major Edward H. White II becomes the second human to walk in space during the flight of Gemini 4

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )

Space Walk Russia Aleksei Leonov - first person outside space vehicle

Optical Disk USA by James Russell - now Compact Disk

Hypertext USA by Ted Nelson - concept for linking, later developed for use in webpages on the Internet

Respirator ( replacement for the Iron Lung ) USA

Calendar For The Year 1965

1965 Calendar

Major World Political Leaders

Australia -- Prime Minister -- Sir Robert Menzies --

Brazil -- President -- Castelo Branco --

Canada -- Prime Minister -- Lester B. Pearson --

China -- Chairman of the People's Republic of China -- Liu Shaoqi --

France -- President -- Charles de Gaulle --

Germany -- Chancellor -- Ludwig Erhard --

India -- Prime Minister -- Lal Bahadur Shastri --

Italy -- Prime Minister -- Aldo Moro --

Japan -- Prime Minister -- Eisaku Sato --

Mexico -- President -- Gustavo Diaz Ordaz --

Russia / Soviet Union -- First Secretary of the CPSU -- Leonid Brezhnev --

South Africa -- Prime Minister -- Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd --

United States -- President -- Lyndon B. Johnson --

United Kingdom -- Prime Minister -- Harold Wilson --