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| 1965 |
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| United Farm Workers (UFW), the first successful union to represent migrant workers, went on strike at the Delano vineyards. The grape pickers, led by Cesar Chavez, encouraged a national boycott of table grapes. In 1968, Chavez fasted for 25 days to protest the increasing violence in the fields. In 1970, the strike ended when the California grape growers recognized the UFW. | 1 |
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| Jan. 18–23 |
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| Voter registration drive in Selma, Ala. After a black voting-rights advocate was killed, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others called for a major march from Selma, Ala., to the state capital. The march turned violent when mounted state troops attacked the marchers. | 2 |
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| Jan. 20 |
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| LYNDON B. JOHNSON AND HUBERT H. HUMPHREY INAUGURATED as president and vice president. | 3 |
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| Feb. 21 |
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| Assassination of Malcolm X, former Black Muslim leader, in New York City. He had justified the use of defensive violence as an alternative to the prevailing nonviolent direct action approach of Martin Luther King, Jr. | 4 |
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| March 8 |
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| The first U.S. Marines entered South Vietnam (See March 7–9), signaling the escalation of U.S. involvement in the fight against the Viet Cong. By year's end, nearly 190,000 U.S. soldiers were in Vietnam. The deepening involvement of the U.S. in the Vietnam War led to growing opposition and protest not only at home but abroad. | 5 |
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| March 9–25 |
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| The second civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., was led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The march was temporarily halted by a federal restraining order, but following Gov. George Wallace's statement of inability to protect the marchers, Pres. Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard and ordered federal troops to the scene. From March 21 to March 25, King, with over 3,000 blacks and numerous white participants from all over the country, completed the march to Montgomery. Gov. Wallace finally agreed (March 30) to meet with a delegation demanding equal civil rights. | 6 |
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| March 11–25 |
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| The deaths of white civil rights activists Rev. James J. Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, at the hands of Ku Klux Klansmen on the road from Selma to Montgomery, helped galvanize white support for the civil rights movement. | 7 |
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| March 13 |
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| Conference of Pres. Johnson and Gov. Wallace of Alabama. The president insisted on protection of the civil rights of all people. On March 17 the president called on Congress for legislation to end discrimination in registration and voting. | 8 |
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| April 14–15 |
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| Visit of Prime Minister Harold Wilson to Washington, D.C. He reiterated British support of U.S. policies in Vietnam. | 9 |
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| July 30 |
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| Passage of MEDICARE LEGISLATION, which involved medical care for the aged. The program would be financed with Social Security funds. | 10 |
| The Water Quality Act provided for federal cooperation with the states in the struggle against pollution. | 11 |
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| Aug. 6 |
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| The Voting Rights Act suspended literacy tests and other examinations designed to exclude people, especially blacks, from voting. | 12 |
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| Aug. 11 |
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| Racial violence erupted in the Watts section of Los Angeles, where 60 percent of all adults were on relief. Thirty-four people died, and property damage reached $200 million in the worst case of urban racial violence since 1943. | 13 |
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