A Short History of Father's Day

With Father’s Day fast approaching, Hooray Heroes looked into the holiday dedicated to the men who raised us.

Companies and store owners all over the Globe have banalized the original significance of Father’s Day to bring home the bacon. Every June we’re now frantically buying "Best Farter Ever" cups and steak branding irons instead of properly bowing to the unique characteristics that make a dad. We can better honor the special man in our lives by understanding exactly when, why, and how Father’s Day started.

The Woman Behind It

It all started in 1909 in a place called Spokane, Washington. A woman called Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in a local church. She got an idea to do the same thing for fathers, all the while thinking of her dad, a Civil War veteran, taking care of his 6 children on a little farm alone after his wife died during childbirth.

The Beginnings

To show her gratitude for all her father William Jackson Smart did for her and her siblings, Sonora thought there should be a special day to pay tribute to him and other heroes like him. She suggested June 5th, the anniversary of her father’s death, to be the day to celebrate Father’s Day, but eventually, the designated day became the third Sunday in June.

The Alternative Origins

The alternative story of Father’s Day in America begins in Fairmont, West Virginia. On July 5, 1908, Grace Golden Clayton, a daughter of a traveling minister, suggested to the minister of her local Methodist church that they hold a commemoration service in honor of all fathers among 361 men that were killed in a mine explosion a year before.

The Path To National Holiday

Although Father’s Day was already celebrated locally in several communities across the country shortly after the initiative of the two women, it has taken some time for Father's day to become a national holiday. The first president to support Father's day was the US's 30th president Calvin Coolidge, who signed a resolution in favor of the national holiday: 

“to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”

A Tradition Is Born

The holiday still didn't catch on right away, probably due to its similarity to Mother’s Day. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order for the holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday in June. But it wasn't until 1972, during the Nixon administration, that Congress passed an act and made Father’s Day a national holiday. Six years later, Sonora Smart Dodd died at age 96.

Father's Day Today

Today, fathers all around the Globe celebrate the national holiday in a very special way - by reading Hooray Heroes personalized daddy books with their kids!

Check out their happy faces after getting their Father's day gifts!

Join The Club

Take the opportunity and tell the best father in your life how much you admire him with the best Father's day gift ever - a personalized book featuring him and 1, 2, or 3 kids.

FATHER'S DAY GIFTS

photos: Today.com