Father's Day poses as just the perfect occasion to express feelings of gratitude
and thankfulness to every dad in the world. Though the day is celebrated with
utmost fervor and enthusiasm in the present times, things were not the same.
Father's Day celebration had a modest beginning. The history of Father's Day
dates back to 1909, in Spokane, Washington. Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a
Mother's Day sermon, at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church. The lecture
inspired her to have a special day dedicated to her father, William Jackson
Smart, who had brought her up and her siblings, single-handedly, after their
mother died.
Sonora could realize the greatness of her father and wanted to let him know how
deeply she was touched by his sacrifices, courage, selflessness and love. To pay
a tribute to her great dad, Sonora held the first Father's Day celebration on
19th of June 1910, on the birthday of her father. She was the first to solicit
the idea of having an official Father's Day observance. However, unlike Mother's
Day, which was readily accepted, Father's Day was received with mockery and
hilarity. Though the day was gaining attention, it was mostly for the wrong
reasons. Jokes, satire, parody and derision were all that the day was
commemorated for.
In 1913, a bill in accordance with making the day official was introduced. The
idea was approved by US President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Later, in 1924, the
idea gained further momentum as it was supported by President Calvin Coolidge.
In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. However,
it was thirty years later that a Joint Resolution of Congress gave recognition
to Father's Day. Another 16 years passed before President Richard Nixon
established the third Sunday of June, as a permanent national observance day of
Father's Day in 1972.
The day was primarily nationalized in the honor of all good fathers, who
contribute as much to the family as a mother, in their own ways. Another theory
states that even before Dodd came into the picture, Dr. Robert Webb of West
Virginia is believed to have conducted the first Father's Day service in 1908 at
the Central Church of Fairmont. However, it was the colossal efforts of Dodd,
which made it possible for the day to acquire national recognition. The white
and red rose was made the official flowers for Father's Day celebration. While
the white rose commemorated gratitude for a father, who was deceased, a red rose
expressed thankfulness to one, who was living.
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