What Kid Doesn’t Love A Teddy Bear? A Short History

What’s the most universal doll that both boys and girls accept as a cuddly friend?

It’s a Teddy Bear – a special friend to kids all over the world. He makes you feel safe in a scary world, and for kids who sleep alone, he provides comfort and companionship.

Today is Teddy Bear Day. A national company that makes Teddy Bears is probably behind it, but some zoos, museums, toy stores and play places for kids also recognize it.

It’s called a Teddy Bear because it’s named after President Teddy Roosevelt. The story goes, while in office as president, he was hunting in Mississippi in 1902 and refused to shoot a small bear. The Washington Post picked up the story and published a cartoon of what they thought his hunting trip might have looked like. The owners of a toy store wrote to the president asking for his permission to call their stuffed bears "Teddy Bears".

Teddy Bears became all the rage across the country and the company the two men owned later became the Ideal Toy Company, one of the largest toy companies in the world.