Fathers Day History

Father\'s Day has today become a global symbol of expressing love and respect to one\'s father. Sons and daughters all over the world make it a point to take some time off and meet their father on this day.

Father\'s Day has religious as well as social origins. In the Roman Catholic tradition, it is celebrated on Saint Joseph\'s Day. Saint Joseph\'s Day is marked to commemorate Saint Joseph, husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus.

In the social context, Father\'s Day as a national celebration can be credited to one woman, who is known to be the founder of Father\'s Day celebrations in the USA. Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, a resident of Spokane, Washington, was one of six siblings who were taken care of by a single father.

Her father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran who raised his children after their mother\'s death. It is said that while she was inspired by Anna Jarvis\'s work to establish Mother\'s Day, she actually hit upon the idea while listening to a Mother\'s Day sermon.

Sonora\'s father was born in June; therefore, they tried to celebrate Father\'s Day in June. The first Father\'s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. Various people like William Jennings Bryan supported this celebration on an unofficial basis. Later, Woodrow Wilson was personally honored by his family on Father\'s Day in 1916. Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday eight years later. The National Father\'s Day committee was formed in New York City in 1926.

In 1966, Lyndon Johnson made it a holiday to be celebrated on the third of June, while the holiday was officially recognized under the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1972.