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Jan 1, The Council on Religion and the Homosexual launched a gay Mardi Gras Ball in San Francisco that was raided by police.
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Jan 2, The New York Jets signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for a reported $427,000.
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A new chancellor is appointed for the University of California at Berkeley. It is announced that political activity will be allowed on campus. Students are to be allowed to hold rallies and speak from the steps of the administration building, Sproul Hall.
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In his State of the Union address, President Johnson proclaims his Great Society. Also he announces plans to promote birth control abroad, using "our knowledge to help deal with the explosion in world population and the growing scarcity in world resources."
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The prime ministers of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years, a sign of improving relations.
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In Spain, Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jews to discuss legitimizing their communities.
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A Viet Cong raid on a base in Pleiku , South Vietnam kills 8 Americans.
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President Johnson orders more bombing in North Vietnam.
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Canada makes a new flag.
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In New York, Malcolm X is assassinated in front of 400 people.
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In Vietnam, 3,500 U.S. Marines arrive -- the first ground force units from a foreign power since the war between the Vietnamese and the French.
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In Montgomery, Alabama, police attack 600 SNCC marchers
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Martin Luther King leads 3,200 marchers from Selma to Montgomery
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West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
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Several Arab nations break diplomatic ties with West Germany
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Nguyen Cao Ky takes power in South Vietnam as Prime Minister. Nguyen Van Thieu is the official chief of state. It's the 10th government in South Vietnam in 20 months.
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Japan and South Korea renew ties with a Treaty of Basic Relations, signed in Tokyo.
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President Johnson announces that he has ordered an increase in US military forces in Vietnam to 125,000. To accomplish this, the monthly draft call is raised from 17,000 to 35,000.
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President Johnson signs the Social Security Act into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
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In Britain, advertising cigarettes on television is banned.
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President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law.
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Singapore separates from the Federation of Malaysia, becoming a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew is its prime minister.
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In Haneville, Alabama, an Episcopal seminarian, Jonathan Daniels, on his way with some teenage blacks to buy a soda, at a store known to sell to blacks, is met at the door by a deputy sheriff with a shotgun who aims his gun and threatens to "blow their brains out." Daniels steps in front of the others and is shot to death. An all white jury will acquit the deputy of the charge against him: manslaughter.
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Soviet scientists condemn Trofim Lysenko, the Stalinist biologist, for pseudo science.
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Fidel Castro announces that anyone can leave for the United States.
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Anti-war marches take in various locations around the country. In Berkeley, a march intending to pass into Oakland to an army base leaves campus, fills Telegraph avenue from curb to curb and stretches one mile from Ashby Avenue back to the campus. It is stopped at the Oakland border by a line of Oakland police.
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Muslim vigilante groups are massacring anyone believed to be communist. This includes people in labor unions. President Sukarno complains that left-wing organizations are the "victims of false slander." He orders the army to "shoot to kill" to stop the massacres, but he is ignored.
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In Paris, an internationally celebrated Moroccan leftist in exile, Mehdi Ben Barka, disappears, never to be seen again.
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Britain has declared that it will not grant independence for its colony of Southern Rhodesia until majority rule is created there. The majority of the people there are black. The leader of the white government there, Ian Smith, declares independence.
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In Indonesia, vigilantes with enemy-lists continue invading villages across Indonesia. Ethic Chinese continue to be associated with communism and are targeted. The army has captured Aidit and he is executed. Soon the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Andrew Gilchrist, will total the slaughter victims at 400,000. Sweden's ambassador will describe this as a “very serious under-estimate.”
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Mobutu cancels elections set for next spring, saying he will rule as president for the coming five years.
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The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia. The United States joins the effort.
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Ferdinand Marcos has won an election and takes office as President of the Philippines.
