On This Day:  August 9

1944 -- U.S. For­est Ser­vice re­leas­es the first Smokey the Bear an­ti-wild­fire posters. After sev­er­al maul­ing in­ci­dents in­volv­ing mis­guid­ed cam­era-wield­ing park tourists, the char­ac­ter is re­drawn to look more men­ac­ing.