This cuddly children’s toy, was invented almost simultaneously in the United States and Germany, but the United States undoubtedly gave it its name. In November 1902, President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt was hunting in Mississippi. He failed to make a kill so his hosts caught and tethered a bear, presenting it to the President as a sitting target. Naturally the President refused, uttering the immortal words, ‘Spare the bear! I will not shoot a tethered animal.’ Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon of the scene, which was published in the Washington Post. That same month Brooklyn shopkeepers Morris and Rose Michtom made a soft bear toy, which they named ‘Teddy’s Bear’ and displayed in their window with a copy of the cartoon. America went bear mad almost overnight and the Michtoms went on to make their fortune with the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt had found a highly effective political mascot. In fact, Steiff teddy bears, dressed up as hunters and fishermen, adorned the tables at the wedding of President Roosevelt’s daughter in 1906.