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The USA gave the UK Father's Day to originally hoped to set the date as June 5th, her own
be celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June father's birthday. He was a Civil War veteran who
Mothering Sunday ( Mother's Day) came from the Brits raised six children on his own after the death of his
The English gave the world Mothering Sunday, which wife during childbirth.
morphed into Mother's Day in the United States, but Washington state celebrated its first Father's Day in
Father's Day was a harder sell. Americans warmed June of 1910 and the idea slowly spread to other states,
slowly to the idea of a day honoring fathers, finally although it has never gained the popularity of
setting the date as the third Sunday in June. The Mother's Day.
British followed suit before an interesting path led to
In 1930 there was actually a campaign to get rid of
official recognition in the United States.
both days in favor of a single Parents' Day. That idea
The first recorded mention of a Father's Day took place got no traction. During World War II, advertisers
in 1908 at a church in West Virginia. There a pastor used Father's Day to promote the troops and the idea
gave a special sermon honoring fathers after 362 men was well on its way to national status.
were killed in a local coal mining accident.
In 1972, Richard Nixon declared Father's Day a
Church members passed out red and white flowers to national holiday, signing the legislation in the middle
honor the living and to mark the dead in of his re-election campaign for president.
commemoration all that fathers do. This was a one off,
The UK was already celebrating the day before it was
however. The church community didn't celebrate
Father's Day again, so this was likely more a official. The favorite gift for father in the UK is a tie
and a card, which seems rather a yawner.
commemoration of an accident than an attempt at
creating a holiday. Of the two celebrations, Mother's Day continues to be
the behemoth event in the number of cards, gifts ,
In 1909, a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, upset
flowers, given, and dinner reservations made. Make a
that there was a Mother's Day but no Father's Day made
it her mission to set up a national observance. She Father's Day splashy, too. Ditch the tie.
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