On December 6, 1877, the Washington Post published its first edition.
Time and time again it’s made history, perhaps most famously for its landmark coverage of the Watergate scandal.
John Phillips Sousa wrote one of his most well-known marches for an event the Post held in 1889.
But most important of all is the outlet’s role in creating the toy that has been a friend to millions of kids over the years: the teddy bear.
Political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman had drawn a cartoon that was published November 16, 1902.
He drew a version of a real-life event in which President Theodore Roosevelt had refused to shoot a bear.
Berryman kept drawing the little bear in other cartoons, making it a sort of sidekick to the president.
It got so popular he started selling commemorative calendars that featured the bear, and children’s authors started adding the bear to their books.
Eventually a candy shop owner in New York, Morris Michtom, started making and selling stuffed toy bears that he named “Teddy’s Bears.” And you know where that led.
So next time you’re reading one of the Washington Post’s many award-winning news stories or investigations, just think: that’s coming from the same paper that made the teddy bear the teddy bear.
We all know Santa Claus flies with his reindeer to deliver presents, right? Well, plans for this year appear to have changed – at least in Ashland, Nebraska.
This weekend Santa will be in that town for an event called Santa Goes To Space, where that right jolly old elf will be hanging out with Imperial Stormtroopers and other Star Wars characters.
Who knew that Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen would end up being replaced by TK-421?
Political Cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman and the Origin of the Teddy Bear (Theodore Roosevelt Center)
Santa Goes to Space (Visit Nebraska)
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