1965

Events from the year **1965 in the United States**.

* Vice President: *vacant* (until January 20), Hubert Humphrey (D-MN) (starting January 20)
* Chief Justice: Earl Warren (CA)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: John William McCormack (D-MA)
* Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-MT)
* Congress: 88th (until January 3), 89th (starting January 3)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: George Wallace (Democratic)
* Governor of Alaska: William A. Egan (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Paul Fannin (Republican) (until January 4), Samuel Pearson Goddard Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Arkansas: Orval Faubus (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Pat Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Colorado: John Arthur Love (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: John N. Dempsey (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic) (until January 19), Charles L. Terry Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Florida: C. Farris Bryant (Democratic) (until January 5), W. Haydon Burns (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Georgia: Carl E. Sanders (Democratic)
* Governor of Hawaii: John A. Burns (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Robert E. Smylie (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Otto Kerner Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: Matthew E. Welsh (Democratic) (until January 11), Roger D. Branigin (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Iowa: Harold E. Hughes (Democratic)
* Governor of Kansas: John Anderson Jr. (Republican) (until January 11), William H. Avery (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Kentucky: Edward T. Breathitt (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: John J. McKeithen (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: John H. Reed (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: J. Millard Tawes (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Endicott Peabody (Democratic) (until January 7), John A. Volpe (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Michigan: George W. Romney (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Karl F. Rolvaag (Democratic)
* Governor of Mississippi: Paul B. Johnson Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: John M. Dalton (Democratic) (until January 11), Warren E. Hearnes (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Montana: Tim M. Babcock (Republican)
* Governor of Nebraska: Frank B. Morrison (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Grant Sawyer (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John W. King (Democratic)
* Governor of New Jersey: Richard J. Hughes (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Jack M. Campbell (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Terry Sanford (Democratic) (until January 8), Dan K. Moore (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of North Dakota: William L. Guy (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Jim Rhodes (Republican)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Henry Bellmon (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: Mark Hatfield (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: William Scranton (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: John Chafee (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Donald S. Russell (Democratic) (until April 22), Robert Evander McNair (Democratic) (starting April 22)
* Governor of South Dakota: Archie M. Gubbrud (Republican) (until January 5), Nils Boe (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Tennessee: Frank G. Clement (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: John Connally (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: George Dewey Clyde (Republican) (until January 4), Cal Rampton (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Vermont: Philip H. Hoff (Democratic)
* Governor of Virginia: Albertis S. Harrison Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Albert D. Rosellini (Democratic) (until January 11), Daniel J. Evans (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of West Virginia: William Wallace Barron (Democratic) (until January 18), Hulett C. Smith (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Wisconsin: John W. Reynolds Jr. (Democratic) (until January 4), Warren P. Knowles (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Wyoming: Clifford P. Hansen (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James B. Allen (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Hugh Wade (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Glenn Malcolm Anderson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Robert Lee Knous (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Samuel J. Tedesco (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Eugene Lammot (Democratic) (until January 19), Sherman W. Tribbitt (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Peter Zack Geer (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: William S. Richardson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: W. E. Drevlow (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Samuel H. Shapiro (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Richard O. Ristine (Republican) (until January 11), Robert L. Rock (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: W. L. Mooty (Democratic) (until January 17), Robert D. Fulton (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Harold H. Chase (Republican) (until January 11), John Crutcher (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Harry Lee Waterfield (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: C. C. Aycock (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Francis X. Bellotti (Democratic) (until January 7), Elliot Richardson (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: T. John Lesinski (Democratic) (until January 1), William G. Milliken (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Alexander M. Keith (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Carroll Gartin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Hilary A. Bush (Democratic) (until January 11), Thomas Eagleton (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: David F. James (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Ted James (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Dwight W. Burney (Republican) (until January 7), Philip C. Sorensen (Democratic) (starting January 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Paul Laxalt (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Mack Easley (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Malcolm Wilson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: vacant (until January 8), Robert W. Scott (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Frank A. Wenstrom (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Charles Tighe (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John William Brown (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Leo Winters (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Raymond P. Shafer (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Edward P. Gallogly (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Giovanni Folcarelli (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Robert Evander McNair (Democratic) (until April 22), vacant (starting April 22)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Nils Boe (Republican) (until January 5), Lem Overpeck (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: James L. Bomar Jr. (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Jared Maddux (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Preston Smith (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Ralph A. Foote (Republican) (until month and day unknown), John J. Daley (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Mills E. Godwin Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Jack B. Olson (Republican) (until January 4), Patrick J. Lucey (Democratic) (starting January 4)

## Events

### January

* January 1 – The ship S.S. *Catala* is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, stranding her.
* January 4 – President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address.
* January 19 – The unmanned *Gemini 2* is launched on a suborbital test of various spacecraft systems.
* January 20 – President Lyndon B. Johnson begins his full term. Hubert Humphrey is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

### February

* February 3 – The 8.7 Mw Rat Islands earthquake affected southwest Alaska with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (*Strong*), causing a tsunami that was destructive at Amchitka.
* 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 in Manhattan.
* 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 2 – *The Sound of Music* premieres at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.
* 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 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 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 marchers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Montgomery, Alabama.
* March 17
	+ In Montgomery, Alabama, 1,600 civil rights marchers demonstrate at the Courthouse.
	+ 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.
* March 18 – A United States federal judge rules that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) has the lawful right to march to Montgomery, Alabama to petition for 'redress of grievances'.
* March 19 – The 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 the 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 21
	+ Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
	+ Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 Civil rights activists in the third march from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery.
* March 23 – *Gemini 3*: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
* 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 services are held for Detroit homemaker Viola Liuzzo, who was shot dead by four Klansmen as she drove marchers back to Selma at night after the civil rights march.
* March 31
	+ *The Negro Family: The Case For National Action* government report issued.
	+ First African American Playboy Playmate, model Jennifer Jackson.

### April

* April 3 – The world's first space nuclear power reactor, *SNAP-10A*, is launched by the United States from Vandenberg AFB, California. The reactor operated for 43 days and remains in high earth orbit.
* April 5 – At the 37th Academy Awards, George Cukor's *My Fair Lady* wins 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cukor. Rex Harrison wins an Oscar for Best Actor. Robert Stevenson's *Mary Poppins* takes home 5 Oscars out of 13 nominations. Julie Andrews wins an Academy Award for Best Actress, for her portrayal in the lead role. Sherman Brothers receives 2 Oscars including Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee". The ceremony is hosted by Bob Hope at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
* April 9
	+ In Houston, Texas, the Harris County Domed Stadium (more commonly known as the Astrodome) opens.
	+ Charlie Brown and the *Peanuts* Gang appear on the cover of *Time*.
	+ The 100th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War is observed.
* April 11 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: An estimated 51 tornadoes (47 confirmed) hit in 6 Midwestern states, killing between 256 and 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 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows reopens.
* 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 29 – 8 The 6.7 Mw Puget Sound earthquake affected western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (*Severe*), causing seven deaths and $12.5–28 million in financial losses in the Puget Sound region.

### May

* May 5 – Forty men burn their draft cards at the University of California, Berkeley, and a coffin is marched to the Berkeley Draft Board.
* May 7 – The U.S. Steel freighter SS *Cedarville* collides with the SS *Topdalsfjord* and sinks near the Mackinac Bridge, killing 25 of those on board. Ten are rescued from the *Cedarville*, the 3rd largest lake ship to sink after its sister the SS *Carl D. Bradley*, and the SS *Edmund Fitzgerald*.
* May 21 – The largest teach-in to date begins at Berkeley, California, attended by 30,000.
* 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.
* May 31 – Scottish racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, and later wins the Formula One world driving championship in the same year.

### June

* June 3 – *Gemini 4*: Astronaut Ed White makes the first U.S. space walk.
* 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 25 – A U.S. Air Force Boeing C135-A bound for Okinawa crashes just after takeoff at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, California, killing all 85 on board.
* June 28 – The DeFeo family moves from Brooklyn, New York, to 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, New York. The murder of all but one of the DeFeos nine years later, on November 13, 1974, by the oldest son, Ronald/Ronnie "Butch" DeFeo Jr., and the subsequent claims of a haunting at 112 Ocean Avenue by the Lutz family, would lead to The Amityville Horror franchise of books and movies.

### July

* July 13
	+ Environmental Science Services Administration created (combining Coast & Geodetic Survey and Weather Bureau)
	+ Weather Bureau part of Environmental Science Services Administration.
* July 14 – U.S. spacecraft *Mariner 4* flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.
* July 25 – Electric Dylan controversy: Bob Dylan elicits controversy among folk purists by "going electric" at the Newport Folk Festival.
* 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 30 – War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

### August

* August 6 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices that have been responsible for widespread disfranchisement of African Americans.
* August 9 – An explosion at an Arkansas missile plant kills 53.
* August 11 – The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles, California.
* August 13 – The rock group Jefferson Airplane debuts at the Matrix in San Francisco, California and begins to appear there regularly.
* 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. 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 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 26 – President Johnson announces an end to the draft deferment for newly married men. Effective at midnight, all men who are not married will remain eligible for the draft regardless of their marital status.
* August 28 – The first Subway opens in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
* August 30
	+ Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album *Highway 61 Revisited*, featuring the song "Like a Rolling Stone."
	+ Casey Stengel announces his retirement after 55 years in baseball.

### September

* September 1 – WTWO begins broadcasting in Terre Haute, Indiana.
* 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 9
	+ Sandy Koufax pitches a perfect game in a baseball match against the Chicago Cubs. The opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley, allows only 1 run, which is unearned.
	+ 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 is the last major hurricane to strike New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina 40 years later.
	+ The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) begins operation.
* September 14 – The infamous "bad sitcom" *My Mother The Car* premieres on NBC.
* September 18 – The first ever Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition is held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City and is won by Larry Scott.
* September 25 – The *Tom & Jerry* cartoon series makes its world broadcast premiere on CBS.
* September 28 – Fidel Castro announces that anyone who wants to can emigrate to the United States.

### October

* October 3 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an immigration bill which abolishes quotas based on national origin.
* 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.
	+ The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.
* October 7 – Seven Japanese fishing boats are sunk off Guam by super typhoon Carmen; 209 are killed.
* October 9 – Yale University presents the *Vinland map*.
* October 10 – The first group of Cuban refugees travels to the U.S.
* October 14 – The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Minnesota Twins, 4 games to 3, to win their 4th World Series Title.
* October 15 – Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War: The Catholic Worker Movement stages an anti-war protest in Manhattan. One protestor who carries out a draft-card burning, David J. Miller, is arrested, the first under the new amendment to the Military Selective Service Act.
* October 16 – Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world.
* October 17 – The New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, New York, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected site park improvements fail to materialize.
* October 26 – Police discover the body of Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis, Indiana.
* October 28 – In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed.
* October 29 – An 80-kiloton nuclear device is detonated at Amchitka Island, Alaska as part of the Vela Uniform program, code-named Project Long Shot.
* 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.
	+ In Washington, D.C., a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.

### November

* November 2
	+ Quaker Norman Morrison sets himself on fire outside the Pentagon to protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
	+ Liberal Republican John Lindsay is elected mayor of New York City.
* 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 7 – The Pillsbury Company's mascot, the Pillsbury Doughboy, is created.
* November 8
	+ Vietnam War: During Operation Hump, medic Lawrence Joel becomes the first African American since the Spanish–American War to receive the United States Medal of Honor.
	+ American Airlines Flight 383 crashes on approach to Cincinnati, killing 58 of 62 people on board.
	+ The soap opera *Days of Our Lives* debuts on NBC.
* November 9
	+ Northeast Blackout of 1965: Several U.S. states (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and portions of New Jersey) and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13½ hours.
	+ 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.
* 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 15 – U.S. racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mph on Bonneville Salt Flats.
* November 22 – *Man of La Mancha* opens in a Greenwich Village theatre in New York City and eventually becomes one of the greatest musical hits of all time, winning a Tony Award for its star, Richard Kiley.
* 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.
* 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 30 – Ralph Nader's book *Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile* is published.

### December

* December 9 – *A Charlie Brown Christmas*, the first *Peanuts* television special, debuts on CBS, becoming an annual tradition.
* 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 – A new, 1-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 is repeated annually by CBS over the next 3 years, but after that, it is virtually forgotten.

## Memoriam

* January 12 – Lorraine Hansberry, African American playwright and writer (aged 34; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 14 – Jeanette MacDonald, actress and singer (aged 61; Houston, TX, USA)
* January 20 – Alan Freed, disc jockey (aged 43; Palm Springs, CA, USA)
* February 5 – Irving Bacon, actor (aged 71; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 15 – Nat King Cole, singer and musician (aged 45; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* February 19
	+ Forrest Taylor, actor (aged 81; Garden Grove, CA, USA)
	+ Tom Wilson, actor (aged 84; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 21 – Malcolm X, African American Muslim minister and human rights activist (aged 39; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 14 – Marion Jones Farquhar, tennis player (aged 85; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 17 – Quentin Reynolds, journalist (aged 62; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* March 25 – Wolfgang Klemperer, Austrian American scientist and engineer (aged 72; CA, USA)
* March 30 – Philip Showalter Hench, physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 (aged 69; Ocho Rios, Jamaica)
* June 2 – Nannie Doss, serial killer (aged 59; McAlester, OK, USA)
* July 14 – Adlai Stevenson II, politician (aged 65; London, England, UK)
* July 19 – Benjamin Gitlow, politician (aged 73; Crompond, NY, USA)
* August 31 – E. E. Smith, science-fiction writer (aged 75; Seaside, OR, USA)
* October 1 – Anton Boisen, founder of the clinical pastoral education movement (aged 88; Elgin, IL, USA)
* October 2 – Nicky Arnstein, professional gambler and con artist, married to Fanny Brice (aged 86; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 26 – Sylvia Likens, murder victim (aged 16; Indianapolis, IN, USA)
* November 18 – Henry A. Wallace, 33rd Vice President of the United States from 1941 to 1945 (aged 77; Danbury, CT, USA)