“SPEAK SOFTLY, CARRY A BIG STICK, AND YOU WILL GO FAR.”

Do you know where the name for the teddy bear came from? In July of 1902 the United States won a short, but meaningful war with Spain, they were fighting for the independence of Cuba. Two American heroes came out of this war. Dewey and Theodor Roosevelt. Our president at the time McKinley was running for a second term, and smart as he was he knew that if he hired Roosevelt as his vice president he was sure to win. Roosevelt had a way with words, making it easy for him to win the election. In the fall of 1901 our president McKinley was shot, a person that attended the event, where they were allowed to come and shake the president’s hand, had a gun strapped to his hand and when he went to shake the hand of the president he shot him. Making him the 3rd president to be assassinated while in office. Instead of mourning the death of our president most Americans were happy because Roosevelt was now our president. He was the first to transform the presidency. In between all his accomplishments, he is credited for the Panama canal, and he’s the reason why we have National Forests, Forest Rangers and, Wild Animal Service. In November 1902 he was out hunting in Mississippi and he had no luck, when one of the attendants called him back they had an American Black Bear tied up to a tree and they offered him to shoot it. He refused to; he said it was “unsportsmanlike” and walked away. They published a cartoon about this in the newspaper, and someone send the president the request to name the bear after him. He agreed, but even though he agreed, no one dared call him Teddy to his face. I guess everybody thought he would be insulted. I don’t know about you but I would be honored if they decided to name a stuffed animal after me.

-Y<3