January 4, 1809 – Louis Braille is born in France. Blinded as a boy, he invents a reading system for the blind using punch marks in paper.
January 6, 1412 – Joan of Arc is born in France. After a series of mystic visions, she inspires French troops to break the British siege at Orleans and win several important battles during the Hundred Years War.
January 8, 1935 – The American King of Rock and Roll (with such hits as “Hound Dog”, “Love Me Tender”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, and “Suspicious Minds”), movie actor, and Las Vegas performer Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
January 9, 1913 – 37th President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, is born in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon served in the U.S. Senate, was Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower, and staged a political comeback after losing to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential election, winning the Presidency in 1968. His early successes ending U.S. military involvement in the Viet Nam war and a landmark visit to China in 1972 were diminished by his direct involvement in the Watergate scandal.