Events of 1965

January

• January 1 - The ship S.S. Catala is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, stranding her.'''
• January 4 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address.
• January 12 - Wanda Beach Murders: The bodies of two 15 year olds, Christine Sharrock and Marrine Schmidt, are found at Wanda Beach, Sydney.
• January 14 - The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
• January 19 - The unmanned Gemini 2 is launched on a suborbital test of various spacecraft systems.
• January 20 - Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President.
• January 24 - Winston Churchill dies at the age of 90, as the result of a stroke he suffered on January 15.
• January 26 - Anti-Hindi agitations break out in India because of which Hindi does not get "National Language" status and remains one of the 23 Official Languages of India.
• January 30 - Winston Churchill's funeral is held in London.

February

• February 6 - Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
• February 7 - The U.S. begins the regular bombing of North Vietnamese towns and villages.
• February 15 - A new red and white maple leaf design is inaugurated as the flag of Canada, replacing the Union Flag and the Canadian Red Ensign.
• February 18 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• February 18 - Dr. Dre is born.
• February 20 - Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• February 21 - Malcolm X is assassinated on the first day of National Brotherhood Week, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, allegedly by Black Muslims.
• February 22 - A new, revised, color production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella airs on CBS. Lesley Ann Warren makes her TV debut in the title role. The show becomes an annual tradition.

March

• March 7 - Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama: Some 200 Alabama State Troopers clash with 525 civil rights demonstrators.
• March 8 - Vietnam War: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
• March 9 - The second attempt 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, in obedience to a court restraining order. White supremacists beat up white Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb later that day in Selma.
• March 10 - Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured after 13 days of freedom.
• March 11 - White Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb, beaten by White supremacists in Selma, Alabama on March 9 following the second march from Selma, dies in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
• March 16 - Police clash with 600 SNCC marchers in Montgomery, Alabama.
• March 17 - In Montgomery, Alabama, 1,600 civil rights marchers demonstrate at the Courthouse.
• March 17 - In response to the events of March 7 and 9 in Selma, Alabama, President Johnson sends a bill to Congress that forms the basis for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It will be passed by the Senate May 26, the House July 10, and signed into law by President Johnson Aug. 6.
• March 18 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
• March 18 - A U.S. federal judge rules that SCLC has the lawful right to march to Montgomery, Alabama to petition for 'redress of grievances'.
• March 19 - Wreck of the SS Georgiana, reputed to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser ever built and owned by the real Rhett Butler, is discovered off Isle of Palms, South Carolina, by teenage diver E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after she was sunk with a million dollar cargo while attempting to run past the Union blockade into Charleston.
• March 20 - Poupée de cire, poupée de son sung by France Gall (music and text by Serge Gainsbourg) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 for Luxembourg.
• March 20 - First fighting in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
• March 21 - Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
• March 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 Civil rights activists in the third march from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery.
• March 22 - Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party.
• March 23 - Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
• March 24-March 25 - Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organizes the first teach-in against the Vietnam War, with 2,500 participants, at the University of Michigan.
• March 25 - Martin Luther King, Jr. and 25,000 civil rights activists successfully end the 4-day march from Selma, Alabama, to the capitol in Montgomery.
• March 30 - Funeral of Detroit homemaker Viola Liuzzo, shot dead by four Klansmen as she drove marchers back to Selma at night after the civil rights march.

April

• April 5 - At the 37th Academy Awards, My Fair Lady received 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Rex Harrison won an Oscar for Best Actor. Mary Poppins took home 5 Oscars. Julie Andrews won an Academy Award for Best Actress, for her portrayal in the role. Sherman Brothers receive two Oscars including Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee.
• April 6 - The Early Bird communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.
• April 9 - The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes.
• April 9 - In Houston, Texas, the Harris County Domed Stadium (more commonly known as the Astrodome) opens.
• April 9 - 100th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War.
• April 9 - Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang appeared in a cover of Time Magazine.
• April 11 - The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: An estimated 51 tornadoes (47 confirmed) hit in 6 Midwestern states, killing between 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.
• April 14 - In Cold Blood killers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, convicted of murdering 4 members of the Herbert Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, are executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary for Men in Lansing, Kansas.
• April 17 - The first SDS march against the Vietnam War draws 25,000 protestors to Washington, DC.
• April 21 - The NY World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY, reopens.
• April 23 - The Pennine Way officially opens.
• April 24 - 1965 Yerevan demonstrations start in Yerevan, demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
• April 24 - The bodies of Portuguese opposition politician Humberto Delgado and his secretary Arajaryr Moreira de Campos are found in a forest near Villanueva del Fresno, Spain (they were killed February 12).
• April 24 - In the Dominican Republic, officers and civilians loyal to deposed President Juan Bosch mutiny against the right-wing junta running the country, setting up a provisional government. Forces loyal to the deposed military-imposed government stage a countercoup the next day, and civil war breaks out, although the new government retains its hold on power.
• April 28 - U.S. troops are sent to the Dominican Republic by President Lyndon B. Johnson, "for the stated purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and preventing an alleged Communist takeover of the country", thus thwarting the possibility of "another Cuba".
• April 28 - Vietnam War: Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies announces that the country will substantially increase its number of troops in South Vietnam, supposedly at the request of the Saigon government. It is later revealed that Menzies had asked the leadership in Saigon to send the request at the behest of the Americans.
• April 29 - Australia announces that it is sending an infantry battalion to support the South Vietnam government.

May

• May 1 - Bob (later Sir Robert) Askin replaces Jack Renshaw as Premier of New South Wales.
• May 1 - The Battle of Dong-Yin occurred as a conflict between ROC and PRC.
• May 1 - Liverpool win the FA Cup Final beating Leeds Utd 2 - 1
• May 5 - The first draft card burnings take place at the University of California, Berkeley, and a coffin is marched to the Berkeley Draft Board.
• May 12 - West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
• May 12 - Italian liner T/S Michelangelo enters in service.
• May 13 - A West German court of appeals condemns the behavior of ex-defense minister Franz Joseph Strauss during the Spiegel scandal.
• May 17 - Trent Reznor, music artist, is born. Nine Inch Nails
• May 18 - Eli Cohen, Spy, is publicly executed. Damascus
• May 21 - The largest teach-in to date begins at Berkeley, California, attended by 30,000. The next day, several hundred participants again march to the Draft Board and burn more cards, and Lyndon Johnson in effigy.
• May 29 - A mining accident in Dhanbad, India kills 274.
• May 31 - Racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, and later wins the Formula One world driving championship in the same year.

June

• June 1 - Florida International University is founded in Miami, FL.
• June 1 - Explosion in a coal mine in Fukuoka, Japan kills 237.
• June 2 - Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
• June 3 - Gemini 4: Astronaut Edward Higgins White makes the first U.S. space walk.
• June 7 - A mining accident in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, results in 128 deaths.
• June 10 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Xoai begins - About 1,500 Vietcong mount a mortar attack on Dong Xoai, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound.
• June 16 - A planned anti-war protest at The Pentagon becomes a teach-in, with demonstrators distributing 50,000 leaflets in and around the building.
• June 19 - Houari Boumédienne's Revolutionary Council ousts Ahmed Ben Bella, in a bloodless coup in Algeria.
• June 20 - Police in Algiers break up demonstrations by people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella.
• June 22 - The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed in Tokyo.
• June 24 - Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho.
• June 25 - A U.S. Air Force Boeing C135-A bound for Okinawa crashes just after takeoff at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, CA, killing all 85 on board.

July

• July 14 - U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.
• July 15 - Greek Prime minister George Papandreou and his government are dismissed by King Constantine II.
• July 16 - The Mont Blanc Tunnel is inaugurated by presidents Giuseppe Saragat and Charles de Gaulle.
• July 22 - Sir Alec Douglas-Home resigns as leader of the British Conservative Party.
• July 24 - Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are targeted by antiaircraft missiles, in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other 3 sustain damage.
• July 25 - Bob Dylan elicits controversy among folk purists by "going electric" at the Newport Folk Festival.
• July 26 The Maldives receives full independence from Great Britain.
• July 27 - Edward Heath becomes Leader of the British Conservative Party.
• July 28 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000, and to double the number of men drafted per month from 17,000 to 35,000.
• July 29 - Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
• July 30 - War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
• July 31 - J.K Rowling is born.
• Unknown date - Sylvia Likens and Jenny Likens are left in the care of Indianapolis housewife Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia is found dead, hideously mutilated three months later.

August

• August 1 - Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.
• August 6 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
• August 7 - Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, recommends the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, negotiating its separation with Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of the State of Singapore.
• August 9 - Singapore is expelled from the Federation of Malaysia, which recognizes it as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew announces Singapore's independence and assumes the position of Prime Minister of the new island nation.
• August 9 - An explosion at an Arkansas missile plant kills 53.
• August 9 - Indonesian president Sukarno collapses in public.
• August 11 - The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles, California.
• August 13 - Jefferson Airplane debuts at the Matrix in San Francisco, California and begins to appear there regularly.
• August 15 - The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing at Shea Stadium in New York
• August 18 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins as 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province, in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the U.S. base at Chu Lai.
• August 19 - At the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt, 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 American civil rights movement.
• August 21 - Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) is launched on the first 1-week flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power.
• August 30 - Casey Stengel announces his retirement after 55 years in baseball.
• August 30 - Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album Highway 61 Revisited, featuring the song "Like a Rolling Stone."
• August 30 - An avalanche buries a dam construction site at Saas-Fee, Switzerland killing 90 workers.
• 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

• September 2 - Pakistani troops enter the Indian sector of Kashmir.
• September 6 - Indian troops invade Lahore.
• September 7 - The People's Republic of China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
• September 7 - Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula, 23 miles south of the Chu Lai Marine base.
• September 8 - India opens 2 additional fronts against Pakistan.
• September 9 - Sandy Koufax pitches a perfect game in a baseball match against the Chicago Cubs. The opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley, allowed only 1 run, which was unearned.
• September 9 - U.N. Secretary General U Thant negotiates with Pakistan President Ayub Khan.
• September 9 - U Thant recommends China for United Nations membership.
• September 9 - Hurricane Betsy roars ashore near New Orleans, Louisiana with winds of 145 MPH, causing 76 deaths and $1.42 billion in damage. The storm is the first hurricane to cause $1 billion in unadjusted damages, giving it the nickname "Billion Dollar Betsy". It will be the last major hurricane to strike New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina 40 years later.
• September 13 - The Congress of Arab Countries begins in Casablanca; Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia boycotts the meeting.
• September 14 - The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
• September 15 - Mary Poppins comes out in theaters in France
• September 16 - China protests against Indian provocations in its border region.
• September 16 - In Iraq, Prime Minister Arif Abd ar-Razzaq's attempted coup fails.
• September 17 - King Constantine II of Greece forms a new government with Prime Minister Stephanos Stephanopoulos, in an attempt to end a 2-year-old political crisis.
• September 18 - In Denmark, Palle Sørensen shoots 4 policemen in pursuit; he is apprehended the same day.
• September 18 - Comet Ikeya-Seki is first sighted by Japanese astronomers.
• September 18 - Soviet Premier Alexey Kosygin invites the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in the Soviet Union to negotiate.
• September 22 - Radio Peking announces that Indian troops have dismantled their equipment on the Chinese side of the border.
• September 24 - Fighting resumes between Indian and Pakistani troops.
• September 24 - The British governor of Aden cancels the constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
• September 27 - The largest tanker ship at the time, Tokyo Maru, is launched in Yokohama, Japan.
• September 28 - Fidel Castro announces that anyone who wants to can emigrate to the United States.
• September 28 - Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts, killing hundreds.
• September 30 - The Indonesian army, led by General Suharto, crushes an alleged communist coup attempt (see Transition to the New Order).

October

• October 1 - The Indonesian army puts down an abortive coup (see 30 September Movement).
• October 3 - Fidel Castro announces that Che Guevara has resigned and left the country.
• October 3 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an immigration bill which abolishes quotas based on national origin.
• October 4 - At least 150 killed, a commuter train derailed at outskirt of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
• October 4 - Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London
• October 4 - Pope Paul VI visits the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.
• October 4 - The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.
• October 5 - Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with Malaysia because of the disagreement in the UN.
• October 6 - Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from Hyde in Cheshire, is arrested for allegedly hacking 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans to death at a house on the Hattersley housing estate.
• October 7 - Seven Japanese fishing boats sank off Guam by super typhoon Carmen, 209 are killed.
• October 8 - The Indonesian army instigates the arrest and execution of communists which last until March 1966 (see Indonesian killings of 1965–66).
• October 8 - The International Olympic Committee admits East Germany as a member.
• October 8 - The Post Office Tower opens in London.
• October 9 - Yale University presents the "Vinland map".
• October 9 - A brigade of South Korean soldiers arrive in South Vietnam.
• October 10 - The first group of Cuban refugees travels to the U.S.
• October 12 - Per Borten forms a government in Norway.
• October 12 - The UN General Council recommends that the United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia.
• October 13 - Congo President Joseph Kasavubu fires Prime Minister Moise Tshombe and forms a provisional government, with Evariste Kimba in a leading position.
• October 15 - Vietnam War: The student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States to result in arrest under the new law.
• October 16 - Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire. The body is quickly identified as that of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day the previous year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester. Ian Brady arrested for the murder of a 17-year-old man in nearby Hattersley, is charged with murdering Lesley, as is his 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley.
• October 16 - Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world.
• October 17 - The NY World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, NY, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected site park improvements fail to materialize.
• October 18 - The Indonesian government outlaws the Communist Party of Indonesia.
• October 20 - Ludwig Erhard is elected Chancellor of West Germany.
• October 21 - Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
• October 21 - The OAU meets in Accra, Ghana.
• October 22 - French authors André Figueras and Jacques Laurent are fined for their comments against Charles De Gaulle.
• October 22 - African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
• October 22 - Second coup of colonel Christophe Soglo in Dahomey.
• October 24 - British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
• October 24 - British police find the decomposed body of a boy on Saddleworth Moor.
• 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 26 - Police discover the body of Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• October 27 - Brazilian president Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco removes power from parliament, legal courts and opposition parties.
• October 28 - French Foreign Minister Couve de Murville travels to Moscow.
• October 28 - Pope Paul VI announces that the ecumenical council has decided that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ.
• October 28 - In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed.
• October 29 - Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan politician, is kidnapped in Paris and never seen again.
• October 29 - Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10), and John Kilbride (12).
• October 30 - Vietnam War: Near Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions is found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.
• October 30 - In Washington, DC, a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.

November

• November 2 - Republican John Lindsay is elected mayor of New York City.
• November 3 - French President Charles De Gaulle announces that he will stand for re-election.
• November 5 - Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82-9.
• November 6 - Freedom Flights begin: Cuba and the United States formally agree to start an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States (by 1971 250,000 Cubans take advantage of this program).
• November 8 - The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War.
• November 8 - The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands (on June 23, 1976 Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches are returned to Seychelles).
• November 8 - The Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.
• November 8 - The soap opera Days of our Lives debuts on NBC.
• November 9 - Northeast Blackout of 1965: 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 13½ hours.
• November 9 - Vietnam War: 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 of the war (the second such incident in a week; on November 2 32-year-old Quaker member Norman Morrison did the same thing in front of The Pentagon).
• November 11 - In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.
• November 12 - A UN Security Council resolution (voted 10-0) recommends that other countries not recognize independent Rhodesia.
• November 13 - The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau, with the loss of 90 lives.
• November 14 - Vietnam War: Battle of the Ia Drang begins - 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 15 - U.S. racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mph.
• November 16 - Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe from Baikonur, Kazakhstan toward Venus (on March 1, 1966 it became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet).
• November 20 - The UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
• November 22 - Man of La Mancha opens in a Greenwich Village theatre in New York and eventually becomes one of the greatest musical hits of all time, winning a Tony Award for its star, Richard Kiley.
• 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 Hammaguira launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter space.
• November 27 - Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters picket the White House, then march on the Washington Monument.
• November 27 - Vietnam War: 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.
• November 29 - Canadian satellite Alouette 2 is launched.

December

• December 1 - The Border Security Force is established in India as a special force to guard the borders.
• December 3 - The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia had asked for British help against Rhodesia.
• December 3 - Members of the Organization of African Unity decide to sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, unless the British government ends the rebellion of Rhodesia by mid-December.
• December 5 - Charles de Gaulle is re-elected as French president with 10,828,421 votes.
• December 8 - Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith warns that Rhodesia would resist trade embargo by neighboring countries with force.
• December 8 - The Second Vatican Council closes.
• December 9 - A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first Peanuts television special, debuts on CBS, quickly becoming an annual tradition.
• December 15 - Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
• December 15 - Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.
• December 17 - The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.
• December 21 - The Soviet Union announces that it has shipped rockets to North Vietnam.
• December 21 - Soviet scientists condemn Trofim Lysenko for pseudoscience.
• December 21 - In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer resigns as chairman of the Christian Democratic Party.
• December 21 - A new, one-hour German-American production of The Nutcracker, with an international cast that includes Edward Villella in the title role, makes its U.S. TV debut. It will be repeated annually by CBS over the next three years, but after that, will be virtually forgotten.
• December 22 - A military coup occurs in Dahomey.
• December 22 - A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on British roads.
• December 25 - The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Taiz.
• December 27 - The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea.
• December 28 - Italian Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani resigns.
• December 30 - President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.
• December 30 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
• December 31 - Bokassa takes the power in Central Africa Republic.

Undated

• Tokyo officially becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from New York City.
• The Council for National Academic Awards is established in the UK
• TAT-4 cable goes into operation.
• Aborigines given vote in Queensland

Ongoing

• Angolan War of Independence 1961-1974
• Colombian Civil War
• North Yemen Civil War 1962-1970

Births

January-February

• January - Paudge Behan, Irish actor
• January 1 - Laura Ingraham, American talk show host and author
• January 4 - Julia Ormond, British actress
• January 6 - Konnan, professional wrestler
• January 9 - Joely Richardson, British actress
• January 12 - Nikolai Borschevsky, Russian professional ice hockey player (retired)
• January 14 - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, British chef
• January 14 - Shamil Basayev, Chechen rebel (d. 2006)
• January 14 - Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player
• January 14 - Bob Essensa, Canadian ice hockey player
• January 14 - Slick Rick, British-American rapper
• January 15 - Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)
• January 15 - James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
• January 18 - Dave Attell, American comedian
• January 20 - Greg Kriesel, American musician (The Offspring)
• January 20 - Sophie, Countess of Wessex
• January 22 - Steven Adler, American musician (Guns N' Roses)
• January 22 - DJ Jazzy Jeff, American rapper and actor
• January 22 - Diane Lane, American actress
• January 25 - Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
• January 26 - Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet gymnast
• January 27 - Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
• January 29 - Dominik Hašek, Czech hockey player
• February 1 - Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
• February 1 - Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
• February 1 - Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
• February 3 - Maura Tierney, American actress
• February 4 - Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
• February 7 - Chris Rock, American actor and comedian
• February 11 - Stephen Gregory, American actor
• February 18 -