January 9 links three very different kinds of firsts, each shaped by the reach of its moment. In 1793, French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first manned balloon flight in the United States, rising from Philadelphia and landing in New Jersey. Though sometimes described as a hot-air flight, Blanchard’s balloon was filled with gas. More than two centuries later, in 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in San Francisco, presenting a device that would transform how people use mobile phones. One carried a passenger above familiar ground; the other put new possibilities in people’s hands.
The middle date, 1913, marks the birth of Richard Nixon, whose presidency combined consequential foreign policy achievements, including opening relations with China, with the Watergate scandal and his resignation in 1974—the only U.S. president to leave office that way. Together, these entries trace changing forms of influence: exploration, political leadership, and communication technology. They also give early January an apt sense of beginnings. In this list, the new year’s first weeks hold both literal and figurative departures, from a balloon lifting off to a technology unveiling—and a life that would later shape a turbulent chapter in American politics.