Can you bear it? The famous teddy bear is more than 100 years old, and got its name from a United¹ States president.

In 1902, President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt took a trip to the American South to help work out a land disagreement² between Mississippi and Louisiana. While there, the president went hunting for bear.

Days passed with no luck for the president, but lots of good luck for the bears. Finally, his guides captured³ a bear and offered to let the president shoot it, so he wouldn’t have to go home empty-handed.

Roosevelt flatly refused. He thought it would be unfair and cruel.

When word of the president’s decision got out, a cartoonist for The Washington⁴ Star newspaper drew a picture of the bear and Roosevelt holding up his hand to say “No.”

The cartoon was seen all over the country, making the president, who was already popular, a hero.

Meanwhile, the owner of a small store in New York asked his wife to make a toy bear for sale. He displayed it in his window with a copy of the cartoon and a sign that said, “Teddy’s Bear.”

That bear, and many others like it, sold big, especially after President Roosevelt gave his official permission for his name to be used. Finally, the s was dropped and Teddy’s Bear became simply the teddy bear.

So the bear that you’ve slept with is really a part of our country’s history.