FATHER'S DAY FACTS

In 1910, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington,
organized the first Father's Day celebration on June 19,
her own father's birthday. The mayor of Spokane and the
governor of Washington state officially support the event.
Dodd's father, a farmer and Civil War veteran, had been a
single father to six young children after the death of his
wife.


In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge publicly supported plans
for a national Father's Day. Two years later, the National
Father's Day Committee met for the first time in New York
City.

                          

The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was
issued in 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 is the fifth most popular card-sending holiday,
with an estimated $100 million in card sales.