Smokey Bear is an campaign and advertising icon created by the  
U.S.Forest Service with artist Albert Staehle (below). In the Wildfire
Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service 
announcement (PSA) campaign in United States history.

Albert Staehle  (1899 – 1974)

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1971, President Nixon announced that he’d sent Henry Kissinger to China and that the result of these meetings was an agreement for a presidential trip to China to seek a ‘’normalization
of relations.”

President Nixon shakes hands with Premier Chou En-lai of the
People’s Republic of China.

President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon Visiting the
Great Wall of China.

ROSS SIMPSON

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States,
served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the
Revolutionary War, then was inaugurated as the first U.S. President
on April 30, 1789.

Washington’s legacy as a commander at Valley Forge, Yorktown, and
Boston was honored in 1917 when an asteroid was named after him:
the 886 Washingtonia asteroid.

General George Washington (left) and French military leader Marquis
de Lafayette at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78 (AP)

Washington praying at Valley Forge.

A reproduction of Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 oil painting ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware." (Associated Press)

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On this day in 1777, the Battle of Princeton in New Jersey took place 
during the War of Independence. George Washington defeated the
British forces, led by Cornwallis. The Battle is the climax of a period known as the “10 Crucial Days.”

A 1784 portrait of Washington by Charles Willson
Peale depicting him at the Battle of Princeton.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1776, Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed
the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at
Trenton, NJ.

At The Battle of Trenton, after a brief struggle, nearly the entire
Hessian force was captured, with negligible losses to American
forces.

The above historical marker is near the very spot the Continental
Army soldiers under George Washington’s command would have disembarked from their boats to begin their march to Trenton.

"Silent Night" was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus (above) in Oberndorff, Austria on this day in 1818.

Shown above is the only surviving autograph of the song by Joseph Mohr (below).

Josephus Franciscus Mohr
(December 11, 1792 – December 4, 1848)

Josephus Mohr was an Austrian Roman Catholic
priest and lyricist.  He wrote the lyrics of the
Christmas carol (English: ‘Silent Night’).