Theodore Roosevelt,the 26th president of the USA,is the namesake of the Teddy Bear.In 1902 the president went bear hunting in Mississippi.The president had been unable to shoot a bear,so members of his party caught a large female bear and tied it to a tree,offering it to the president.The president refused,and the event was drawn by Clifford Berryman for the Washington Post.The cartoon bear became very popular, and when Rose and Morris Michtom made a bear toy to put in the window of their candy shop.The Michtom's started the Ideal Toy Company after their bears took off,but they were not the only company to make Teddy Bears. In 1902,Richard Steiff designed a string jointed bear based on the bears he saw at the Stuttgart Zoo.Their bear,known as "Bear 55 PB" did not sell at the 1903 Leipzig Toy Fair until a buyer from the United States saw them and fell in love!He bought 3000,beginning Steiff's long success with Teddy Bears. actor: a small neighbor