The trial of Sirhan Sirhan, accused of the murder of Senator Robert F. Kennedy the previous June, began in Los Angeles on January 7.
On the Thursday before Super Bowl III, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath told the Miami Touchdown Club, “The Jets will win Sunday. I guarantee it.” On that Sunday, January 12, the Jets, champions of the American Football League, defeated the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts, 16-7. They were the first AFL team to win the championship. (You won’t be able to watch the video on this site, but, if you click “Super Bowl III: Jets vs. Colts Highlights” at upper left, you can see it on YouTube.)
The publishers of The Saturday Evening Post announced January 10 that it would cease publication in February after almost 148 years.
The first Led Zeppelin album, Led Zeppelin, was released in the United States on January 12.
An explosion onboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, at sea near Hawaii, on January 14 killed 27 sailors and injured 314.
Richard M. Nixon was sworn in as the 37th President of the United States and our commander-in-chief on January 20.
On the third of nine consecutive days of heavy rainfall in Southern California, nine people were killed in their homes in mudslides north of Los Angeles January 25. Overall, the deaths of 95 people (most due to weather-related traffic accidents) were attributed to the effects of the weather and damage amounted to nearly $1 billion in today’s dollars.