Father's Day struggled
Who knew that Father’s Day was controversial in the United States?
“With America’s history, you might think that a holiday recognizing men would be perfectly acceptable. After all, mem dominated American society in the early 20th century,” says the online Almanac.
Although Mother’s Day was officially recognized in the United States in 1914, men apparently scoffed at its sentimental appeal.
The first known Father’s Day service was in Fairmont, West Virginia, on July 5, 1908, after hundreds of men died in the worst mining disaster in U.S. history, but the observance gained no traction and was a one-time event.
A year later, in 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, saw her own father as an inspiration and wanted to honor all fathers. Her father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran and farmer who reared Dodd and her five brothers by himself after the children’s mother died.
Dodd convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA to set aside June 19, 1910, as a Father’s Day.
The Spokane event received wide-spread publicity that reached the nation’s capital. The first national bill to make Father’s Day a holiday was introduced in 1913. Although it received encouragement from President Wilson, the bill did not pass Congress.
Eight years later, in 1921, President Coolidge signed a resolution in favor of Father’s Day “to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”
In the 1920s and 1930s, there was a movement to combine Mother’s Day with a Father’s Day to celebrate Parents Day, according to the History Channel.
During the Depression, however, struggling retailers campaigned to make Father’s Day a separate holiday and advertised neckties, hats, socks, pipes and tobacco, golf clubs and cards for dad. The idea for Parents’ Day was scrapped.
With World War II, retailers struck a patriotic note by advertising that celebrating a Father’s Day was a way to honor American troops and support the war effort.
Years went by. Then, in 1966, President Johnson signed an executive order that Father’s Day be celebrated on the third Sunday of June.
Finally, in 1972, during President Nixon’s administration, Congress passed an act officially making Father’s Day a national holiday.
The National Retail Association expects consumers to spend $22.9 billion on Father’s Day gifts this year - compared to an estimated $35.7 billion spent for Mother’s Day gifts in 2023
Society has evolved, of course, since the early efforts to honor fathers, and the dad’s role has changed dramatically in many families.
Eating in a family restaurant recently, I saw a young man carrying a beautiful little girl and her diaper bag headed for the men’s restroom that advertised a changing table.
If, as a male, you have ever nurtured another human being, Happy Father’s Day.
Martha Moore Hobson was an early Certified Financial Planner in the region. Although retired, she continues to volunteer in the community.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Father's Day struggled
