The Original Teddy Bear – President Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt could be remembered for many things. He was the youngest ever president of the USA, he was a Nobel laureate, he was the first president to ever ride in a motor car. But perhaps long after his policies are forgotten he will be remembered largely thanks to his namesake the Teddy bear.

In 1902 Theodore Roosevelt was hunting in Mississippi when members of his party cornered an injured bear and tied it to a tree. Roosevelt was offered the chance to shoot the bear as he had yet to bag a kill on the hunt. The president refused but did order the animal be put down to stop any unnecessary suffering.

This act of compassion caught the imagination of the press and several cartoons appeared with the rough riding president around the arm of the grateful animal, a small black bear with round ears and big black eyes, reminiscent of another 20th century icon, a certain cartoon mouse that would appear some years later.

The public were enthralled and one entrepreneurial shopkeeper, Morris Michtom, seized the chance for some free marketing. Taking a stuffed toy bear that his wife had made, he placed it in his shop window with a sign that proudly named the toy as “Teddy’s bear”. The opportunistic shopkeeper even wrote to the president asking for permission to use his name. The President was happy to oblige.

The origin of the name “Teddy bear” is clear, but the origin of the actual toy is less obvious. At the same time Teddy’s bears were selling in the USA a German manufacturer, Stieff, was producing their own stuffed toy bears unrelated to their American counterparts. They were originally slow to get a market in Europe but orders were placed by American businessmen to take the bears back to the USA.

With their iconic design with light brown fur and dark brown eyes the Steiff bears are probably the image you conjure when you think of a teddy bear. Early bears in good condition are highly sought after and can fetch considerable sums at auction.

If the origin of the Teddy is disputed, what is sure is that the teddy bear has become one of the most enduring toys of the 20th century and now, over 100 years and 18 presidents later, shows no sign of losing it’s appeal.