The March 25 murder of Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights activist from Detroit, by the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama (DFP-6; UPI-2);[4]
The boom in 1965 automobile production, reaching a record high of 11,111,000 vehicles, including 9,331,000 passenger cars (DFP-3, UPI-8);[1]
The May 7 sinking of the SS Cedarville in the Straits of Mackinac after it crashed in the fog with another ship (the Topdalsfjord), resulting in the death of 10 crew members (UPI-3);[5]
The November 2 Detroit election in which Jerome Cavanagh was re-elected as mayor by a two-to-one margin and Nicholas Hood was elected to become the second African-American Councilman in Detroit history (DFP-2);[6]
The refusal to seat Daniel West in the Michigan House of Representatives after it was revealed that he lied about being an honors graduate of Yale Law School and concealed an extensive criminal record (UPI-5);[7]
The November deaths of three surgery patients at Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital due to mistakes by an anesthetist (DFP-8, UPI-10);[8]
Benton Harbor and River Rouge repeating as Michigan's Class A and Class B high school basketball champions (the 1965 championship was the fifth straight at the Class B level for River Rouge);[16]
The strong hitting of Willie Horton, playing his first full season in the major leagues, during the first half of the 1965 season (in his first 19 games, Horton had a .403 batting average with 9 home runs and 21 RBIs);[17]
The Detroit Lions' collapse, dropping to sixth place in the NFL West with a 6–7–1 record;[18]
A March 9 heart attack that sidelined Detroit Tigers manager Charlie Dressen for the first part of the 1965 season (Bob Swift took over as manager during Dressen's convalescence);[19]