Third Sunday in June
The road to declaring a nationally-honored Father’s Day was a long one, spanning over 60 years. President Calvin Coolidge supported the holiday but did not make a proclamation. President Woodrow Wilson spoke at a Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington, but Congress resisted making the holiday official out of fear it would become commercialized. Finally, President Lyndon B. Johnson was the one who declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day, though it was not yet made a permanent national holiday.
The History of Father’s Day in the United States
There are two stories of when the first Father’s Day was celebrated. According to some accounts, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Washington state on June 19, 1910. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea of honoring and celebrating her father while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church in 1909. She felt as though mothers were getting all the acclaim while fathers were equally deserving of a day of praise (She would probably be displeased that Mother’s Day still gets the lion’s share of attention).
Sonora’s dad was quite a man. William Smart, a veteran of the Civil War, was left a widower when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. He went on to raise the six children by himself on their small farm in Washington. To show her appreciation for all the hard work and love William gave to her and her siblings, Sonora thought there should be a day to pay homage to him and other dads like him. She initially suggested June 5th, the anniversary of her father’s death to be the designated day to celebrate Father’s Day, but due to some bad planning, the celebration in Spokane, Washington was deferred to the third Sunday in June.
The other story of the first Father’s Day in America happened all the way on the other side of the country in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908. Grace Golden Clayton suggested to the minister of the local Methodist church that they hold services to celebrate fathers after a deadly mine explosion killed 361 men.
While Father’s Day was celebrated locally in several communities across the country, unofficial support to make the celebration a national holiday began almost immediately. William Jennings Bryant was one of its staunchest proponents. In 1924, President Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge recommended that Father’s Day become a national holiday. But no official action was taken.
Finally, it was President Nixon who officially declared it a holiday in 1972. Father’s Day is much newer than Mother’s Day, which has been celebrated since the 1860s and was made official in 1914.
In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson, through an executive order, designated the third Sunday in June as the official day to celebrate Father’s Day. However, it wasn’t until 1972, during the Nixon administration, that Father’s Day was officially recognized as a national holiday.
Father’s Day Around The World
Celebrating dads on the third Sunday in June may have originated in the United States, but Father’s Day is far from an American-exclusive holiday. Over 40 countries around the world have a special day to honor dads.
Other countries also picked up on the idea of Father’s Day. While many followed suit by celebrating it on the third Sunday in June, some decided to honor dad on different dates. So, to make sure you know when to pay your respects to dear old dad wherever you may be, here’s a list of the dates Father’s Day is celebrated across the world.
March 14– Iran
March 19– Bolivia, Honduras, Italy, Lichtenstein, Portugal, Spain
May 8– South Korea
First Sunday in June– Lithuania
Second Sunday in June– Austria, Ecuador, Belgium
Third Sunday in June– Antigua, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Trinidad, Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
June 17– El Salvador, Guatemala
June 23– Nicaragua, Poland, Uganda
Second Sunday in July– Uruguay
Last Sunday in July– Dominican Republic
Second Sunday in August– Brazil
August 8– Taiwan, China
August 24– Argentina
First Sunday in September– Australia, New Zealand
New Moon of September– Nepal
First Sunday in October– Luxembourg
Second Sunday in November– Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden
December 5– Thailand
Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June in many countries around the world, including the Netherlands, India, and the U.K. Many Christian countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and Italy, celebrate fathers on St. Joseph’s Day (March 19).
Timeline:
1910 - Spokane celebrates the first Father's Day on June 19.
1924 - President Calvin Coolidge publicly supports plans for a national Father's Day.
1966 - President Lyndon Johnson signs a proclamation calling for Father's Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
1972 - President Richard Nixon signs into law a permanent recognition of Father's Day.
The First Father’s Day Card
Father’s Day cards go farther back than Hallmark. One of the earliest dates back roughly 4,000 years. Elmesu, a Babylonian youngster, carved a card out of clay to “wish his father good health and long life.”Fifty percent of all Father's Day cards are purchased for fathers, according to Hallmark. Almost 20 percent of Father's Day cards are given to husbands.Father’s Day is the fourth most popular card-sending holiday in the U.S. behind Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day. Over 72 million cards are sent out on this special holiday to say “I love you!”
Happy Father's Day to all Dads all over the world.
