Do you know the origin of Father’s Day?
In 1910, Sonora Smart Dodd invented her own celebration of Father’s Day to honor her father who was a Civil War veteran—William Jackson Smart. He was a single parent who reared six children in Spokane, Washington, and his birthday was in June. His daughter Sonora felt he should be honored in a dedicated celebration.
In 1913, a bill to create national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father’s Day celebration and wanted to make it an official holiday. Congress instead resisted the idea, feeling that the day would become commercialized.
President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be nationally observed, but stopped short of creating a national proclamation.
Finally, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal in 1957 suggesting that Congress was ignoring fathers for over 40 years while honoring mothers. (Mother’s Day was established in 1914.)
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Six years later, in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the holiday into law, making it a permanent national holiday.
On this day, take a moment to reflect on your father figure and honor his spirit.