Theodore Roosevelt and Teddy Bear

How did toy bears come to be named after President Theodore Roosevelt?
It all started with a hunting trip President Roosevelt took in 1902 in Mississippi at the invitation of Mississippi Governor, Andrew H. Longino. After three days of hunting, other members of the party had spotted bears, but not Roosevelt.

Now what? The President’s bear hunt would be a failure! The next day, the hunt guides tracked down an old black bear that the dogs had trailed quite a distance and attacked. The guides tied the bear to a willow tree and called for the President. Here was a bear for him to shoot!

But Roosevelt took one look at the old bear and refused to shoot it. He felt doing so would be unsportsmanlike. However, since it was injured and suffering, Roosevelt ordered that the bear be put down to end its pain. Word of this hit newspapers across the country, and political cartoonist Clifford Berryman picked up on the story, drawing a cartoon showing how President Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear while hunting in Mississippi.

The original cartoon, which ran in the Washington Post on November 16, 1902, shows Roosevelt standing in front. The guide and bear are in the background, and they’re about the same size. Later, similar cartoons appeared, but the bear was smaller and shaking with fear. This bear cub then appeared in other cartoons Clifford Berryman drew throughout Roosevelt’s career. That connected bears with President Roosevelt.

The Teddy Bear tie came when a Brooklyn, NY candy shop owner, Morris Michtom, saw Clifford Berryman’s original cartoon of Roosevelt and the bear and had an idea. He put in his shop window two stuffed toy bears his wife had made. Michtom asked permission from President Roosevelt to call these toy bears “Teddy’s bears”. The rapid popularity of these bears led Michtom to mass-produce them, eventually forming the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

At about the same time, a Germany company, Steiff, started making stuffed bears. Margaret Steiff earned her living by sewing, first by making stuffed elephants, then other animals. In 1903, an American saw a stuffed bear she had made and ordered many of them. These bears, which also came to be called Teddy Bears, made the international connection.

More than a century later, teddy bears have never lost popularity, and all can be traced to that one hunting trip in Mississippi.

An Original TEDDY BEAR

at The SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM

Teddy bear early 1900s – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History – 2012-05-15

An original “Teddy Bear” from 1903, manufactured by Benjamin Michton, son of the founder of the Ideal Toy Co. This bear was owned by Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson, Kermit. Michton gave the bear to him in December 1963. The Roosevelts donated it to the Smithsonian a month later.

The name “Teddy Bear” comes from a political cartoon which made fun of President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt went on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902. A small black bear was cornered, clubbed, and tied to a tree. The hunters offered to let Roosevelt shoot it, but he refused — saying it was unsportsmanlike. Roosevelt did ask that the bear be killed to end its suffering.

On November 16, 1902, “Washington Post” political cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew an image of a disgusted Roosevelt refusing to kill a cute little bear. The cartoon was used to poke fun at Roosevelt’s over-zealous hunting, fishing, and camping lifestyle.

Morris Michtom, owner of a New York City toy store, saw the cartoon. He created a small stuffed bear cub toy, and sent it to Roosevelt. He asked the president’s permission to use the name “Teddy”, and Roosevelt consented.

The toys were an immediate success. By 1906, ladies carried “Teddy bears” with them everywhere, children were photographed with them, and Roosevelt used one as a mascot in his re-election campaign. Michtom used his profits to found the Ideal Toy Co.

Early teddy bears were made to look like real bears, with snouts and beady eyes.

On display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Theodore Roosevelt and The TEDDY BEAR

Washington Post 1902

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