by Yohanna Farrell

Created on: June 13, 2008

In 1909 a young woman was listening to a mothers day sermon. It was Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. This lecture inspired her to have a special day dedicated to her father, William Jackson Smart, a farmer and a civil war veteran, who had single- handedly raised her and her five other siblings after their mother had died. Sonora wanted her father to know how deeply touched she was by his sacrifices, courage, selflessness and love for his six children. She held the first fathers day celebration on the 19th June 1910, her own fathers birthday which the mayor of Spokane and the governor of Washington state officially supported the event. In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City.

However, it was thirty years later that a Joint Resolution of Congress gave recognition to Father's Day. Another 16 years passed before President Richard Nixon established the third Sunday of June as a permanent national observance day of Father's Day in 1972 in the honor of all good fathers that contribute as much to the family as a mother, in their own ways. Even before Dodd came into the picture, Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia is believed to have conducted the first Father's Day service in 1908 at the Central Church of Fairmont. However, it was the colossal efforts of Dodd, the devoted daughter of the Civil War veteran who refused to remarry for the sake of his six children and took upon himself all the duties, love and care of a mother, that eventually led it to a national observance.

In 1999 fathers' day became the fifth most popular card-sending day. The estimated card sales reached $95 million. This holiday is not just for fathers but also for husbands, grandfathers, uncles, sons and son-in-laws are among the receivers of gifts. Searching around the Internet I found out that, only days before Father's Day, an estimated 53% of Americans do not know what they will buy for the holiday. If they are like consumers of 2000, 60% will buy cards, while the most popular gifts will be apparel (41%), dinner (38%), sporting goods (22%), home improvement merchandise (18%), electronics (17%), and gardening tools (12%). In 2004, there were an estimated 98,000 "stay-at-home" dads. These are married fathers with children under 15 years old who have remained out of the labor force for more than one year primarily so they can take care of their families while their wives work outside the home.

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