Gund Teddy Bears

The teddy bear was named for the 26th President of the United States, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. On November 14, 1902, Mr. Roosevelt was involved in the settlement of a border dispute between the states of Mississippi and Louisiana. During a rest period in the settlement proceedings, Mr. Roosevelt attended a bear hunt, where he encountered a gravely injured young bear, ordering that it be killed and put out of its misery.

A political cartoon entitled “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” was published in the Washington Post depicting Roosevelt’s order for the mercy killing of the wounded bear. Cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman characterized the bear as a ferocious animal that had just killed a hunting dog in the first version of the cartoon, later revising the bear’s character into that of a cute, cuddly baby bear. The cartoon and the story it told became well-known quickly, and within a year’s time, the bear cub from the second version of the cartoon had inspired a children’s toy called the teddy bear.