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In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Mississippi. As reported in the Washington Post, the presidential hunting party trailed and lassoed a lean, black bear, then tied it to a tree. The president was summoned, but when he arrived on the scene he refused to shoot the tired and exhausted bear, considering it to be unsportsmanlike.

The following day, November 16, Clifford Barryman, Washington Post editorial cartoonist, immortalized the incident as part of a front-page cartoon montage. Barryman pictured Roosevelt, his gun before him with the butt resting on the ground and his back to the animal, gesturing his refusal to take the trophy shot. Written across the lower part of the cartoon were the words, "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," which coupled the hunting incident to a political dispute.

The cartoon drew immediate attention. In Brooklyn, NY, shopkeeper Morris Michtom displayed two toy bears in the window of his stationery and novelty store. The bears had been made by his wife, Rose, from plush stuffed excelsior and finished with black shoe button eyes. Michtom, who recognized the immediate popularity of the new toy, requested and received permission from Roosevelt himself to call them "Teddy's Bears."

The little stuffed bears were a success. As demand for them increased, Michtom moved his business to a loft, under the name of the Ideal Novelty and Toy Corporation.