1965 | Political Events
Political Events
President Johnson proclaims his vision of a "Great Society" in his first State of the Union Message January 4 but U.S. bombers pound North Vietnamese targets February 7 and 8, retaliating against a National Liberation Front (NLF) attack on U.S. ground forces in South Vietnam (see 1964). Washington announces a general policy of bombing North Vietnam February 11 and President Johnson says, "The people of South Vietnam have chosen to resist [North Vietnamese aggression]. At their request the United States has taken its place beside them in this struggle."
Gen. Nguyn Cao Ky takes control as premier of South Vietnam in February, with former National Military Academy head Nguyen Van Thieu, 41, as chief of state. Nguyen Khanh is effectively exiled to the United States.
Some 160 U.S. planes bomb North Vietnam March 2, and 3,500 U.S. Marines land at Da Nang March 8 to 9 in the first deployment of U.S. combat troops in Vietnam. A bomb explodes in the U.S. embassy at Saigon March 30. North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter planes shoot down U.S. jets April 4, a student demonstration in Washington, D.C., April 17 protests the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, but U.S. planes raid North Vietnam in force April 23.
Australia decides April 29 to send troops to aid South Vietnam.
A "teach-in" broadcast May 15 to more than 100 U.S. colleges opposes the war 9,000 miles away in Vietnam, but Congress authorizes use of ground troops in direct combat June 8 if the South Vietnamese army so requests. The first full-scale combat offensive by U.S. troops begins June 28. Some 125,000 U.S. troops are in Vietnam by July 28 and President Johnson announces a doubling of draft calls. While he asks the UN to help negotiate a peace, U.S. troops engage in their first major battle as an independent force in mid-August and destroy a Viet Cong stronghold near Van Tuong August 19. "The Vietcong are going to collapse within weeks," says President Johnson's National Security Adviser Walt (Whitman) Rostow, 48: "Not months, but weeks."
Antiwar rallies October 15 attract crowds in four U.S. cities. Poet Allen Ginsberg at Berkeley, Calif., introduces the term "flower power" to describe a strategy of friendly cooperation. Oakland police have blocked the Berkeley peace marchers from entering the city and the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang has attacked the marchers, calling them "un-American." Look magazine reveals in November that Washington rejected secret peace talks with North Vietnam arranged in September of last year by UN Secretary General U Thant. The AFL-CIO pledges "unstinting support" for the U.S. Vietnamese war effort December 15.
Former Supreme Court justice and longtime civil-rights advocate Felix Frankfurter dies of a heart attack at Washington, D.C., February 22 at age 82 (he retired in 1962 and was succeeded by former secretary of labor Arthur J. Goldberg, now 56, who resigns reluctantly at President Johnson's request and is appointed U.S. representative to the United Nations).
Former Japanese foreign minister Kenkichi Yoshizawa dies at Tokyo January 5 at age 90; former U.S. diplomat Joseph C. Grew at Manchester, Mass., May 25 at age 84; former Japanese general Otozo Yamada at Tokyo July 18 at age 83 (he was convicted of war crimes by a Soviet court and imprisoned from 1945 to 1956); former South Korean president Synghman Rhee of a stroke at Seoul July 19 at age 90; former Japanese premier Hayato Ikeda at Tokyo August 13 at age 65.
India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir again in September (see 1949; 1964). Hostilities continue for 17 days until the United Nations Security Council can enforce a cease-fire September 22 (see 1966). Pakistan's president Mohammad Ayub Khan is reelected despite strong opposition from forces united behind Fatima Jinnah, sister of the nation's founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah (see 1960); he will hold office until 1969.
Philippines president Diosdado Macapagal loses his bid for reelection to Nacionalista Party candidate Ferdinand (Edralin) Marcos, 47, who led a Filipino Army unit against the Japanese in 1942, survived the Bataan Death March and a Japanese prison camp, will make himself virtual dictator, and will remain in power until 1986 (see martial law, 1972).
The Indonesian army defeats a communist takeover attempt in late September (see commerce, 1963). Indonesia has withdrawn from the United Nations January 2 (the first nation to do so). Jakarta has seized U.S. oil company properties and those of Goodyear Tire & Rubber March 19 and seizes all remaining foreign-owned properties April 24. Communists kidnap the army chief of staff and five generals at the end of September, but other generals escape capture and thwart the attempted coup. A general massacre of alleged communists begins October 8, estimates of the dead range up to 400,000, but many of those killed are ethnic Chinese who have lived in Indonesia for centuries, dominate the nation's economy, and are slain simply because they are landlords or creditors. Gen. Thojib N. J. Suharto (or Soeharto), 44, becomes chief of the army staff and will make himself dictator (see 1967).
CIA director John A. McCone resigns April 28 to pursue his business interests, having been excluded by President Johnson from the White House inner circle because of his pessimistic views about Vietnam; he is succeeded by Texas-born Vice Admiral William F. (Francis) Raborn Jr., 55, who will head the agency until next year.
U.S. Marines land in the Dominican Republic April 28 to protect American citizens and prevent an allegedly imminent communist takeover of the Santo Domingo government (see Trujillo, 1961). President Johnson has ordered the invasion despite opposition from senators who include notably J. William Fulbright (D. Mo.). An Inter-American Peace Force from the Organization of American States (OAS) takes over peacekeeping operations beginning May 23, but 20,000 U.S. Marines remain for several months (see Belaguer, 1966).
Former Colombian president Laureano Eleuterio Gómez dies at his native Bogotá July 12 at age 76.
Canada's prime minister Lester B. Pearson persuades Confederation of National Trade Unions president Jean Marchand, 46, to become a candidate for the Liberal Party and help derail the growing Quebec separatist movement; La Presse dismisses its editor-in-chief Gérard Pelletier, 46, for his radical views, and Marchand convinces him and Montreal-born assistant law professor Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 45, to run for office; all three are elected, they serve in Pearson's cabinet, and they will become known as Quebec's "three wise men."
Former British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill dies at London January 24 at age 90 and is buried at St. Martin's Churchyard, Bladon. His widow, Clementine (née Hozier), is named a life peer and given the title Baroness Spencer-Churchill of Chartwell; former Irish Free State president William T. Cosgrove dies at Dublin November 16 at age 85.
Gen. Maxime Weygand dies at Paris January 28 at age 98 from the effects of broken hips suffered in a fall 8 days earlier. President de Gaulle has never forgiven Weygand for advising capitulation to the Germans in 1940 and denies permission for his funeral to be held at St. Louis des Invalides Church so it is held at Weygand's parish church February 2.
Romania's premier Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej dies in March after nearly 13 years in power and is succeeded as head of state by Nicolae Ceausescu, 47, a military man whose formal education has not gone beyond fourth grade but who has been trained at Moscow; he will rule despotically until late 1989.
Hungarian politician Gyula Kallai, now 55, becomes prime minister and will hold the position until 1967, having helped to restore communism after the pro-democracy revolt of 1956.
Turkey's prime minister Inönü resigns in February after less than 4 years in office following a reversal in parliament (see 1963). A new government headed by Suat Hayri Urgüplü rules until October 10, when the new center-right Justice Party wins a majority in the general election and 40-year-old Süleyman Demirel becomes prime minister. A former engineer, Demirel will hold office until 1971.
Former Egyptian king Farouk co1llapses at a Rome restaurant in the Appia Antica and dies of a heart attack March 18 at age 49; Israel's premier Moshe Sharett dies of cancer at Jerusalem July 7 at age 70; former Egyptian premier Mustafa Nahas Pasha of a heart ailment at Cairo August 23 at age 86; former Iraqi premier Rashid Ali al-Geilani in exile at Beirut August 28 at age 73; former Jordanian premier Samir el-Rifel of a heart attack at Amman October 12 at age 66.
Exiled Moroccan revolutionary leader Mehdi Ben Barka, 45, disappears at Paris October 29, rumors circulate that Moroccan minister of the interior Gen. Muhammad Oufkir has hired gangsters to eliminate Ben Barka, a formal French inquiry and trial reveal that Morocco has violated French national sovereignty and that French police and intelligence officers have been involved in the affair, but Morocco ignores an international warrant for Oufkir's arrest (see 1966).
Former Howard University Law School dean Patricia Roberts Harris, 40, goes to Luxembourg as U.S. ambassador. She is the first black woman to attain ambassadorial rank.
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (and two-time presidential candidate) Adlai E. Stevenson collapses outside his London hotel July 14 while walking with his longtime mistress Marietta Peabody Tree, now 48. Stevenson dies of heart failure soon afterward at age 65; Norden bombsight inventor Carl L. Norden at Zürich June 14 at age 85.
Former U.S. Communist Party general secretary Benjamin Gitlow dies of a heart attack at Crompond, N.Y., July 19 at age 73.
Texas voters elect lawyer Barbara (Charline) Jordan, 30, to the State Senate; she becomes that body's first black senator since 1883 (see 1972).
The Gambia gains independence February 18 after nearly 122 years of British colonial rule. The kingdom will become a republic in 1970.
The Maldives in the Indian Ocean gain independence July 26 after 78 years of British colonial rule.
Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew proclaims de facto independence from the Federation of Malaysia August 9 and Singapore becomes a republic December 22 (see 1963). The largest port in Southeast Asia and one of the world's busiest, the city-state becomes a member of the British Commonwealth with an authoritarian government headed by Lee, now 42, who will hold office until 1990.
Rhodesia's prime minister Ian Smith visits London in early October and demands immediate independence, Britain refuses unless the Salisbury government first agrees to expand representation of native Africans in the government with a view to eventual majority rule (see 1964). Smith declares Rhodesian independence unilaterally November 11 while reaffirming loyalty to the queen, the British governor at Salisbury declares Smith and his government deposed, London calls Smith's declaration illegal and treasonable, and it proclaims economic sanctions against Rhodesia (see 1966).
The UN Security Council calls on all nations November 12 to withhold recognition of the oppressive new Rhodesian regime and refuse it aid. Rhodesian guerrillas sabotage railway lines, destroy crops, kill cattle, and will soon begin murdering white farmers. The Organization of African Unity threatens to break relations with Britain December 5 unless London applies force to suppress Ian Smith's Rhodesian rebellion by December 15.
Guinea severs diplomatic relations with France November 15 after discovering a plot to assassinate Sékou Touré and overthrow his regime.
The Independent Congo Republic has a bloodless coup November 24 to 25, 6 weeks after President Kasavubu has dismissed Moise Tshombe as premier. Secretary of State for National Defense Gen. Mobutu, now 35, deposes President Kasavubu, makes himself president, and proceeds to rule by decree (see 1962; 1966).
Former Australian political leader Herbert V. Evatt dies at Canberra November 2 at age 71, having retired from politics in 1960 to become chief justice of New South Wales.
Ukrainian-born Soviet leader Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny, 62, takes over the presidency of the USSR December 9, succeeding Anastas Mikoyan. He will retain the position until 1977.