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History of Fathers Day

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History of Fathers Day

Fathers Day began in America in the early 20th century in the United States. Father’s day was founded by Sonora Dodd, the daughter of American civil war veteran William Jackson Smart. She didn’t have a mother so her dad looked after her and her five brothers and sisters on his own. While hearing about the new holiday Mother’s Day in Spokane, Washington Sonora felt that fathers needed recognition too.

Sonora suggested to the pastor at her church that they have a Fathering Sunday to celebrate dads. She went to the local government and to store owners. She just tried all these organizations and it was the YMCA that really stepped up and wanted to help her. She wanted to have the celebration on June 5th because that was her father’s birthday but the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA said hey we’ll do it on the third Sunday in June. That’ll give it some distance between Mother’s Day which was on the second Sunday in May and it’ll give some time for the ministers to prepare their sermons. That third Sunday was June 19th 1910 which was the first Father’s Day.

It stayed in that area of Washington State but over the years gained a little bit of traction and publicity and then started getting the attention of those all the way across the country those in Washington DC. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge suggested that the government observe Father’s Day so as to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children.

In  1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order and made the first presidential Father’s Day proclamation that the holiday will be celebrated on the third Sunday in June. In 1972 Richard Nixon signed the official proclamation that made Father’s Day a federal holiday in the United States.

Super socks for Super Dads on Fathers Day!