A group of NATO journalists visiting Churchill, Manitoba — the self-proclaimed Polar Bear Capital of the World — are photographed in front of the Hudson's Bay Company store in this July 1954 image from the NY Times Canadian Photo Archive. What was the draw? It wasn't polar bear watching. At the time, the city was being considered by the British for testing nuclear weapons. And here we thought all the bears have had to fear over the years was global warming.

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