The story behind Father’s Day

By Emmanuel Asiimwe 

Unlike Mother’s Day celebrated on March 8 and which has pretty summer origins, Father’s Day has relatively light roots.

It is said to have been created by a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd who tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. 

She went around to local businesses to gather support for her idea and on June 19, 1910, the state of Washington celebrated the first-ever Father’s Day.

Although the event inspired President Woodrow Wilson and President Calvin Coolidge to urge the Americans to acknowledge a day of fathers during their administrations, it still was not an official holiday. 

Unfortunately, an enthusiasm for the commemoration of the day did not last long. During the 20s and the 30s, people tried to do away with both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and replaced them with Parent’s Day.

Finally, several decades later, on May 1, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a proclamation 4127 which declared Father’s Day as a National holiday, with the official celebration on June 18, 1972. 

“Let each American make this gratitude we bear to our fathers, increasing and enduring through all years,” he wrote in the document.