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Father’s Day: How a woman’s efforts to honour her dad’s memory led to a global tradition

One American woman waged a decades-long campaign to honour the memory of her father, leading to the popular commemoration on the third Sunday of June. Here’s what to know.

The origin of Father's day is surprisingly personal and primarily relates to one woman’s efforts. Photo: Unsplash

5 min readNew DelhiJun 21, 2026 07:57 PM IST First published on: Jun 21, 2026 at 04:55 PM IST

On the third Sunday of June every year, Father’s Day is popularly commemorated in many countries. Today, it bears the distinct mark of commercialisation like other similar days, with small companies and corporate giants prominently advertising gifting options and discounts.

But the origin of this day is surprisingly personal and primarily relates to one woman’s efforts. What was the intention behind the day first being instituted? Why was this particular day chosen and what was its initial criticism? We explain.

The history behind Father’s Day

Sonora Smart Dodd is a name often associated with the day’s history. The American woman first marked the day in 1910 as a tribute to her widower father William Jackson Smart, who fought in the US Civil War (1861 to 1865) and raised Dodd and her five siblings.

In 1909, Dodd was listening to a church sermon on Mother’s Day, marked annually on the second Sunday of May. Her great-granddaughter Betsy Roddy told the AP in 2017 that the incident “bugged her”. “She thought, ‘Well, why isn’t there a Father’s Day?’”

Interestingly, the origins of Mother’s Day are similar, involving a daughter passionate about preserving their parent’s memory. Activist Anna Jarvis’s mother spent her life working for causes centred around motherhood, such as teaching mothers sanitation to prevent child mortality, and forming a community of mothers from both sides of the Civil War divide to work for peace.

Jarvis decided to campaign for the cause of Mother’s Day and sought to fix a date close to May 9 — the date of her mother’s passing in 1905. She wrote numerous letters to politicians, businessmen, and church leaders to enlist their support for her cause, proposing the second Sunday of May. Following her attempts, some local events were held in 1908. Eventually, US President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill in 1914 to formally recognise Mother’s Day as an official holiday in the country.

Explained | Mother’s Day: Why it is celebrated on different dates in various parts of the world

Back to Sonora Smart Dodd. Her initial efforts led the local clergy and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) to come on board, and they had their first Father’s Day in Spokane, Washington, in 1910. But it would take a few more decades of lobbying for the day to become more mainstream.

US Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon B Johnson also supported such a day of commemoration. In a 1966 proclamation, Johnson wrote: “In the homes of our Nation, we look to the fathers to provide the strength and stability which characterize the successful family. If the father’s responsibilities are many, his rewards are also great — the love, appreciation, and respect of children and spouse. It is the desire to acknowledge publicly these feelings we have for the fathers of our Nation that has inspired the Congress to call for the formal observance of Father’s Day.”

However, this did not accord it the status of an official holiday. That would only happen under President Richard Nixon.

In a proclamation issued on May 1, 1972, Nixon wrote: “Our identity in name and nature, our roots in home and family, our very standard of manhood — all this and more is the heritage our fathers share with us. It is a rich patrimony, one for which adequate thanks can hardly be offered in a lifetime, let alone a single day. Still it has long been our national custom to observe each year one special Sunday in honor of America’s fathers; and from this year forward, by a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, that custom carries the weight of law.”

Why is it celebrated on the third Sunday of June?

In Nixon’s presidential proclamation, June 18 was the chosen date of celebration. Back in 1910, Sonora is believed to have brought a petition before the Spokane YMCA, suggesting fathers be recognised during services on June 5 (her father’s birthday). But because there wasn’t enough time to prepare, the event was rescheduled for June 19. This led to an approximate designated day for future celebrations.

According to an article from Reader’s Digest, there was a “national movement” in the US against such days in the 1920s and ’30s, arguing for replacing them with “Parent’s Day”. Many also saw these days as a “commercial gimmick, and as many fathers were the sole breadwinners at the time, they didn’t particularly want their hard-earned cash spent on flowers and chocolates,” it says.

However, the Great Depression and World War II helped the cause of such days when significant sales would help boost economic activity. Today, billions of dollars are spent annually on Father’s Day gifts and events.

The spread of globalisation has brought these days and celebrations to countries like India, too. Another major day, when fathers are honoured in many countries with Catholic populations, is March 19 or Saint Joseph’s Day. A feast is organised on the day for the husband of the Virgin Mary, also believed to be Jesus’s father on earth.