Fathers Day - US Citizenship Teachers

Father’s Day In America

by Ryan Moore

History of Father’s Day • Sonora Smart Dodd is the woman credited with creating Father’s Day in America.

• Sonora Smart Dodd’s father, Henry Jackson Smart was a Civil War veteran and a widower who raised his children as a single father.

• Sonora was sitting in church in 1909 listening to a Mother’s day sermon and it made her think of all that her father had done for her after her Mother died.

• She felt that the important role that father’s play in their children’s lives was being disrespected.

• She decided that there should be a special day set aside for Father’s Day and began a National Campaign.

• Religious leaders rallied around her cause and the first Father’s Day was held in 1910 in her home town of Spokane, Washington. • Sonora chose to celebrate Father’s Day in June because her Father was born in June • Mother’s Day was immediately accepted and made into a National holiday but Sonora faced a lot of resistance in getting Father’s Day accepted.

• 14 years after the first Father’s Day celebration Sonora got President Calvin Coolidge to publicly support making Father’s Day a national holiday.

• Congress however was opposed to President Coolidge’s plan to make it a national holiday. • They were afraid that the holiday would become commercialized. • Father’s Day did not die out however, with Sonora’s support a trade organization was started in the 1930’s called the National Council for Promotion of Father’s Day. Their goal was to establish Father’s Day as a commercial holiday.

In 1966 (56 years after the first Father’s day) President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Father’s Day an official national holiday.

In 1972 President Nixon signed a law making Father’s Day a national celebration on the third Sunday of June.

Father’s Day Traditions • Father’s day is the fifth most popular card-sending holiday in the U.S.

• Ties were the traditional gift

• Other gifts are clothing, sporting goods, tools, electronics and other things.

• The official flower for Father’s Day is the Rose. • The red rose is worn or displayed to honor a father that is still alive

• A White Rose is meant to honor a Father who has passed away.

• The most common way to celebrate Father’s Day , other than sending cards, is to have a family get together. • Popular ways to celebrate are having a family cook out.

• Going out to eat at a Restaurant with the Family.

• Or having a family picnic.

• However you celebrate Father’s Day, it is a way to thank father’s for all they have done for us.