The beloved and most powerful comforters of our childhood came to life at the beginning of the twentieth century. Teddy Bear coincidentally appeared at the same time, in Germany and in the United States.
As it is well know, in the United States it all started with a cartoon drawn by Clifford Berryman, titled “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” published in November 16, 1902 in the Washington Post. It showed President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a baby bear. According to the tale, Roosevelt was on the Mississippi trying to help settle a border dispute between Louisiana and Mississippi. His hosts set a hunting bear day, but they had no luck finding bears. They only found a baby bear, tied it to a tree and presented it to Roosevelt to shoot. He of course refused and ordered to set it free.
The cartoon inspired a couple of Brooklyn, New York, Morris and Rose Michtom, to make a stuffed bear cub in recognition of the President's actions. They placed the bear along with a copy of the cartoon in the window of their candy and stationery store, just as a display. The bear was in standing position not on all four paws like previous toy bears, and it looked so sweet and adorable that it was a great success, their customers were fascinated by the bear and wanted to buy it.
The Michtoms named their bear "Teddy's Bear" after they asked for and received President Roosevelt’s permission to use his name for the hand-sewn bears that he and his wife made, and the "Teddy Bear" was born!
At the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in Giengen, Germany, Margaret Steiff, also made stuffed bear toys. In 1902, his nephew, Richard Steiff that was working for the family business as a toy designer, went to a touring American circus in search of ideas for new toys. He got the idea of making a bear jointed as the dolls they produced. He presented his drawings of an upright and jointed bear to his aunt Margaret and she approved it to be produced by the firm. So, the Teddy Bear was born also in Germany in the same year it was in America.