Betty Marion White Ludden
(January 17, 1922 – December 31, 2021)

ED DANAHUE

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the
“manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors
for beverage purposes,” was ratified by the requisite number
of states on January 16, 1919.

The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began in the early
19th century, when Americans concerned about the adverse
effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the
late 19th century, these groups had become a powerful political
force,

Martin Luther King Jr.
(born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta,
Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate
degree in theology and in 1955 helped organize the first major
protest of the African American civil rights movement: the
successful Montgomery Bus Boycott.

SANDY KOZEL

Introducing… The Beatles is the first Beatles album released in the United States. Originally scheduled for a July 1963 release, the LP
came out on 10 January 1964, on Vee-Jay Records, ten days before Capitol‘s Meet the Beatles!. The latter album, however, entered the
U.S. album chart one week before the former. Consequently, when
Meet The Beatles! peaked at #1 for eleven consecutive weeks, Introducing…The Beatles stalled at #2 where it remained nine consecutive weeks. It was the subject of much legal wrangling,
but ultimately, Vee-Jay was permitted to sell the album until late
1964, by which time it had sold more than 1.3 million copies. On 24
July 2014 the album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA. 

In competing versions of the story, what Elvis Presley really wanted
for his birthday was a rifle or a bicycle—both fairly typical choices
for a boy his age growing up on the outskirts of Tupelo, Mississippi.

Instead, Elvis’s highly protective mother, Gladys,”She never let me
out of her sight”, Elvis would say—took him to the Tupelo Hardware
Store and bought a gift that would change  the course of history: a
$6.95 guitar. It was January 8, 1946, and Elvis Aaron Presley was 11
years old.

The historical significance of putting a guitar into the hands of a
young man who would later help define rock and roll is obvious
and for Elvis himself, however, getting that guitar was just one
more step in a thorough yet totally unplanned program of
childhood musical development that prepared him perfectly to
ignite a revolution 10 years later.

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977)
(Note: Elvis was 11 years old when this photo was taken)

Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black accompany Elvis (center)
in a little-seen photo from late 1954 or ’55.