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Aha Moment Maker: Teddy Bear Tug of War

by Your friends at OIC on November 2, 2013

Theodore Roosevelt and a Teddy Bear, the toy that was named for him

ONWARD, MISSISSIPPI, 1902—The iconic “teddy bear” was so named for an incident involving America’s 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. On a brief vacation in Mississippi, his hunting party managed to subdue a black bear and tie it to a tree. Roosevelt declined to shoot it on the grounds that it would not be the sporting thing to do.

News articles about how the big game hunting President refused to shoot a bear caught the attention of political cartoonist Clifford Berryman, who decided to poke fun at the President. In the cartoon, Berryman illustrated the bear as a cute and fuzzy little cub. People enjoyed it so much that he continued to symbolically insert the bear in his cartoons throughout Roosevelt’s presidency.

In Brooklyn, NY, candy shop owners Morris and Rose Michtom saw the cartoon and were inspired to create a stuffed version of the bear cub. They dubbed it “Teddy’s bear” and put it on display in their store window. People were soon asking to buy their creation, so they sent the original off to Roosevelt as a gift for his children and asked for permission to use his name for the stuffed toy.

It wasn’t long before the Michtoms closed the candy store and went into the stuffed bear business full-time. What remains a matter of some debate, however, is whether Berryman or the Michtoms should rightfully be credited as the teddy bear’s creator.

What’s the aha moment you see?

 

Image © iStockphoto

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