Father’s Day
Posted by Admin on 18 June 2006, 12:00 am
Father's Day, contrary to popular misconception, was not established as a holiday in order to help greetings card manufacturers sell more cards. In fact when a "father's day" was first proposed there were no Father's Day cards!
It originated in the USA when Mrs Sonora Dodd of Washington, wife of John B. Dodd, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs Dodd wanted a special day to honour her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs Dodd became an adult that she realised the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.
The first Father's Day was observed on June 19th, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across America other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day." In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.
Father's Day has become a day to not only honour your father, but all men who act as a father-figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honoured on Father's Day.
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