Chronicle Editor
What is the history of Father’s Day?
Don’t feel bad if this date is news to you; the celebration changes days year-to-year. If you ever forget, just remember that Father’s Day always falls on the third Sunday of June, and then check the calendar accordingly.
Unlike Mother’s Day, which has pretty sombre origins, Father’s Day has relatively light roots — and was actually created by a woman.
According to History.com, back in 1909, an American woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, “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 Americans to acknowledge a day for dads during their administrations, it still wasn’t an official holiday. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for the commemoration didn’t last long. During the 1920s and 1930s, people tried to do away with both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and replace them with Parents’ Day instead.
Then, during the Great Depression, retailers made a push to commercialise the holiday in an attempt to make money during dire financial times. And as World War II started, people began to use Father’s Day as a way to pay respect to American troops.
Finally, several decades later, on May 1, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed Proclamation 4127, which declared Father’s Day as an American national holiday, with the first official celebration on June 18, 1972.
“Let each American make this Father’s Day an occasion for renewal of the love and gratitude we bear to our fathers, increasing and enduring through all the years,” he wrote in the document.
The day is however, now celebrated worldwide, although it is not a public holiday. — countryliving.com
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu