A special day dedicated to your daddy

• Father’s Day officially began in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, where 27-year-old Sonora Dodd proposed it as a way to honour the man who raised her when her mom died in childbirth. Dodd was at a church service thinking about how grateful she was to her father when she had the idea for Father’s Day, which would mirror Mother’s Day but be celebrated in June — her dad’s birthday month. 
• Inspired by Anna Jarvis’s struggle to promote Mother’s Day, 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.  
• Looking at the heightened popularity of Father’s Day, President Woodrow Wilson approved of this idea in 1916. The movement grew for years but didn’t gain national-event status until 1924 under former President Calvin Coolidge.  
• In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. Since then it is celebrated across the world.

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