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# When did Father's day begin?
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/father_s_day_1806100604/
- Published: 2010-06-18T19:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:03:13.000Z
- Description: Sonora Dodd proposed the holiday in 1909 to honor her widowed father, and the first observance fell on June 19, 1910. Lyndon Johnson's 1966 proclamation set the third Sunday in June, and Richard Nixon signed the law making it permanent in 1972.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Miscellaneous, Health News, #vivvo-import

Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, first proposed the idea of a father's day in 1909\. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mrs. Dodd wanted to celebrate the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

The first [Father's Day](http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Fathers%5FDay.shtml?ref=foodconsumer.org) was observed on June 19, 1910\. June was chosen because it was the month of William Smart’s birth. In 1924,[President Calvin Coolidge](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/calvincoolidge/?ref=foodconsumer.org) supported the idea of a national Father's Day. However, the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was not issued until 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Father's Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.

Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day.

**Additional Resources:**

- [Father's Day Centennial: June 20, 2010](http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts%5Ffor%5Ffeatures%5Fspecial%5Feditions/cb10-ff11.html?ref=foodconsumer.org)
- [KidsWeb - Father's Day Links](http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/KidsWeb/Arts%5Fand%5FCrafts/Holidays/Fathers%5FDay/?ref=foodconsumer.org)

By USA.gov team