August 9, 1944: The U.S. Forest Service introduces the character of Smokey Bear, as an advocate for fire safety. To make the point further, the Forest Service drew up posters, imitating the U.S. Army's Uncle Sam "I WANT YOU" recruiting poster, saying, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires." The first Smokey Bear poster was delivered on October 10 by artist Albert Staehle.
The living symbol of Smokey Bear was a five-pound, three-month-old American black bear cub who was found in the spring of 1950 after the Capitan Gap fire, a wildfire that burned in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. He had climbed a tree to escape the blaze, yet his paws and hind legs had been burned. He was taken to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and made the official Smokey Bear mascot, living until 1976.
You'll notice I haven't been using "the" in his name, just "Smokey Bear." That's his official name: The joke that "Smokey the Bear's middle name is 'the'" is just that, a joke. But the "the" entered the public consciousness in 1952, when country music superstar Eddy Arnold recorded a song titled "Smokey the Bear," written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. They added the "the" to fit the rhythm of the song. The chorus goes:
Smokey the Bear!
Smokey the Bear!
Prowlin' and a-growlin' and a-sniffin' the air!
He can smell a fire
before it starts to flame!
That's why they call him Smokey!
That is how he got his name!
Since Smokey's debut, State Troopers have been called "smokeys" and "bears" because they wear hats similar to Forest Service officers and National Park Rangers, as seen in the movie Smokey and the Bandit. As far as I know, the one exception is here in New Jersey, were the Troopers wear regular "cop hats."
The U.S. Forest Service was founded on February 1, 1905, as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- not the Department of the Interior, as you might expect, given its outdoor role. It is headquartered at the Sidney R. Yates Federal Building, named for a longtime Democratic Congressman from Illinois, at 1400 Independence Avenue SW in Washington.
The Department of Agriculture was founded on May 15, 1862, and is headquartered a block away, at the Jamie L. Whitten Building, named for a longtime Democratic Congressman from Mississippi, at 1301 Independence Avenue SW.
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August 9, 1944 was a Wednesday. Soccer star George Armstrong and actor Sam Elliott were born.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. The Browns tied the game in the 8th inning and won it in the 9th, on a home run by Al Zarilla. The Browns went on to win their 1st American League Pennant -- and, as it turned out, their only one.
* The New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Mel Ott, by this point the Giants' manager and still playing, did not put himself into the game.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Curt Davis outpitched Hank Wyse. Luis Olmo, baseball's first Puerto Rican star, hit a home run.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 4-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The Boston Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-6 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Stan Musial, probably the biggest star left in baseball that hadn't yet gone off to war (he would miss the next season), went 2-for-4.
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