The world owes thanks to Ms
Sonora Louise Smart Dodd a loving daughter from Spokane, Washington as
it is because of her struggle that Father's Day saw the light of the day.
The idea of Father's Day celebration originated in Sonora's mind when she per chance listened to Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Fairly mature at the age 27, Sonora pondered if there is a day to honor mother then why not for father? Sonora felt strongly for fathers because of the affection she received from her own father Mr William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran. Sonora's mother died while childbirth when she was just 16. Mr Smart raised the newborn and five other children with love and care.
Inspired by Ms Anna Jarvis's struggle to promote Mother's Day, Ms Dodd began a rigorous campaign to celebrate Father's Day in US. The Spokane Ministerial Association and the local Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) supported Sonora's cause. As a result Spokane celebrated its first Father's Day on June 19, 1910. Though there was initial hesitation the idea gained gradual popularity all over US and Fathers Day came to be celebrated in cities across the country.
Looking at the heightened popularity of
Father's Day in US, President Woodrow Wilson approved of this idea in 1916.
President Calvin Coolidge too supported the idea of a national Father's Day in
1924 to, "establish more intimate relations between fathers and their
children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their
obligations". After a protracted struggle of over four decades, President
Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of
June as Father's Day in 1966. Then in 1972, President Richard Nixon established
a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday
of June. Sonora Smart Dodd was honored for her contribution at the World's Fair
in Spokane in 1974. Mrs. Dodd died in 1978 at age 96.