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How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America's National Toy
and declared Billy Possum “the new national toy.” It might seem ridiculous to suggest that the beloved teddy bear, named for the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s refusal to shoot a restrained bear, could ...
Smithsonian Magazine21d
How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America’s National Toy
could be replaced by a plush version of the 18-pound opossum served to Taft for dinner on January 15. A 1909 political cartoon about Billy Possum versus the teddy bear Atlanta Constitution via ...