Father’s Day
Father’s Day Gifts challenges. What is the perfect Father’s Day Gift and the history behind how Father’s Day gifts came about. What is the perfect Father’s Day Gift ? That is the big question every year, as we try an figure out how we can show our love with the perfect Father’s Day Gift. For me the Father’s Day Gift is only half of it, the other half is the showing up and spending time with them, that is what they want most of all.
But how did Father’s Day come about .It was for the love of a daughter and 60 years of campaigning, that, finally in 1972, the 3rd Sunday in June, was the official national holiday for Father’s Day.
HISTORY OF FATHER'S DAY
The first Father’s Day was the 19th of June 1910, in Spokane Washington. It wasn’t met with the same hype as Mother’s Day, men didn’t like being given Father’s Day gifts like flowers and chocolates as they saw this to be belittling to the manhood. Plus not a lot of woman worked then either, meaning the men were the ones paying for their own gifts too. But Father’s Day Gifts was revamped after the great depression by advertisers and retailers, making it like a 2nd Christmas, promoting gifts such as socks, Tabaco, hats, sporting goods etc. To this day you can see the advertising around these products titled as, The Perfect Father’s Day Gift .
THE GIRL THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE
Sonora Smart Dodd was one of 14 siblings and daughter to William Jackson Smart, a veteran who was widowed twice and reared his children on his own, being both father and mother to them. Which in those days that would not have been very common.
It was in 1919, in Spokane Washington when Sonora was attending the 1st official Mother’s Day, when she thought to herself why isn’t there a day to celebrate the fathers too..so in 1910, she petitioned to the Spokane Ministerial Alliance to recognize father’s for their devotion, just like William and she wanted it to be celebrated on the 5th of June on his birthday. The clergy couldn’t pull this off in such a short space of time, so the date become the 19th of June or the 3rd Sunday in the month of June. Sonora would spend her life campaigning for Father’s Day to be made an official holiday but it isn’t till 6 years after her death, that president Richard Nixon would make it an national holiday. William himself had died in 1919 but would be very proud of Sonora’s efforts and accomplishments.
Here is a link below for the full article authored by the history.com editors, where I have gotten my information if you would like to read it in full.