January 20 – Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President.

Hubert Humphrey becomes Vice President.

February 21 – Malcolm X is assassinated in Manhattan.

March 7 – Bloody Sunday: Some 200 Alabama State Troopers clash with 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama. No one was killed in the clash.

March 8 – Vietnam War: Some 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam,

becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.

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 is passed by the Senate May 26, the House July 10, and signed into law by President Johnson August 6

April 17 – The first SDS march against the Vietnam War draws 25,000 protestors to Washington, DC.

May 22 – The first skateboard championship is held.

               - In addition, several hundred Vietnam War protesters in Berkeley, CA, march to the Draft   Board again to burn 19 more cards. Lyndon Johnson is hanged in effigy.

June 3 – Gemini 4: Astronaut Edward Higgins White makes the first U.S. space walk.

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.

August 6 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

August 11 – The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles, California.

August 15 – The Beatles perform the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing at Shea Stadium in New York City.

August 18 – Vietnam War – Operation Starlite: 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.

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

October 16 – Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world

October 30 - Vietnam War: Near Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas.

In Washington, DC, a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.

November 8 - United States Army 173rd Airborne Brigade, Operation Hump, War Zone D in Vietnam, were ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong (V.C.).

November 14 – Vietnam War – Battle of the 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 27 - Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters picket the White House, then march on the Washington Monument.

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.

December 9 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first Peanuts television special, debuts on CBS, quickly becoming an annual tradition

​

Ongoing

• Cold War (1945–1991)

• Space Race (1957–1975)

• Vietnam War, U.S. involvement (1962–1973)

​