1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,040 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the lesser known stories 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,479 Speaker 1: we're taking a closer look at the origin of Father's Day, 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: from its humble beginning as a small regional celebration to 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: its eventual embrace as a full fledged national holiday. The 8 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: day was June nineteenth, nineteen ten. Father's Day was celebrated 9 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: for the first time in Spokane, Washington. At the turn 10 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, communities across the United States began 11 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: embracing the observance of Mother's Day, and while it wasn't 12 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: made a national holiday until nineteen fourteen, by then nearly 13 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: every state in the Union had already adopted the second 14 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: Sunday in May as a day for honoring mothers. Fittingly enough, 15 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: it was on Mother's Day in nineteen oh nine that 16 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: the idea for Father's Day was first conceived. That morning, 17 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: Spokane resident Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a Mother's 18 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: Day sermon at the Central Methodist Church. She enjoyed the 19 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: message about the virtues of motherhood but as the daughter 20 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: of a twice widowed father, she felt the dads of 21 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: the world deserved some appreciation as well. After the service, 22 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,680 Speaker 1: Sonora approached her pastor saying, quote, I like everything you've 23 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: said about motherhood, but somehow father seems something apart. Do 24 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: you not think it would be fair and fine to 25 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: give father a place in the sun. It might seem 26 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: like an obvious idea today, but it was fairly radical 27 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: for the era. At the time, American society didn't attach 28 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: much sentimentality to fire. Dads were expected to provide for 29 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: their families financially, but emotional engagement in the day to 30 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: day work of child rearing was largely left to moms. 31 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: Sonora Smart Dodd's father was an exception to that rule. 32 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: His name was William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran 33 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: turned farmer who had been married and widowed before he 34 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: met Sonora's mother. William had five children with his first wife, Elizabeth, 35 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: but they were already grown by the time he married 36 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: his second wife, Ellen, a widower herself. Ellen had three 37 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: children from a previous marriage, which William helped raise to adulthood. 38 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty seven, the couple moved to Washington State, 39 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: along with a new batch of children. They'd had together 40 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: four sons and one daughter, Sonora. Eleven years later, tragedy 41 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: struck when Ellen died while giving birth to their fifth son, 42 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: and William became a widower again at the age of 43 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: fifty six. Sonora, his oldest child still living at home, 44 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: was sixteen at the time. She later recalled being deeply 45 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: moved by the selfless devotion her father showed during that 46 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: difficult time. In an interview with the Spokane Daily Chronicle, 47 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: she praised his performance as a single dad, saying, quote, 48 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: I remember everything about him. He was both father and 49 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: mother to me and my brothers and sisters. In the 50 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: decade after her mother's passing, Sonora came of age, got married, 51 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: and had children of her own. She also witnessed the 52 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: start of the Mother's Day tradition during that time, and 53 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen o nine, she became convinced that the same 54 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: honor should be afforded to America's fathers. Her own pastor 55 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: seemed open to the idea when she suggested it in 56 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: nineteen o nine, so the following year, Sonora brought a 57 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: petition before the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and the local YMCA. 58 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: Both organizations agreed to help get the word out, and 59 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: Sonora suggested setting the date for June fifth, the birthday 60 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: of her father, who was still living at the time. However, 61 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: the local clergy said they would need more time to 62 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: prepare father themed sermons, so they settled on June nineteenth, 63 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: the third Sunday of the month instead. On that first 64 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: Father's Day in nineteen ten, both the mayor of Spokane 65 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 1: and the governor of Washington issued proclamations establishing the holiday. 66 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: Preachers across the city delivered heartfelt tributes to devoted dads, 67 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,480 Speaker 1: and attendees were given fresh flowers to pin to their 68 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: lapels in honor of their fathers, red roses for the 69 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: living and white in memory of the departed. As for Sonora, 70 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: the mother of Father's Day, she naturally spent part of 71 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: the day with her own dad, but she also made 72 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: time to deliver roses and other small gifts to elderly 73 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: fathers who weren't well enough to attend the day's church service. 74 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: The Father's Day celebration was so well received that Spokane 75 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: continued to hold it each year, and as news of 76 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: the holiday spread, a number of similar events started popping 77 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: up in communities across the country. Around the same time, 78 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: Sonora enlisted the help of her congressman, who began lobbying 79 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: to make Father's Day a national holiday. The closest that 80 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: effort came was in nineteen sixteen, when President Woodrow Wilson 81 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: endorsed Father's Day with a telegram during a visit to 82 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: Washington State. By the nineteen twenties, Father's Day was widely 83 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: observed throughout the country, but still wasn't officially recognized by 84 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: the federal government. In nineteen twenty four, President Coolidge voiced 85 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: his approval for the holiday, calling it away to quote 86 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children, and 87 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations. 88 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,600 Speaker 1: But just like Wilson before him, Coolidge didn't take any 89 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: official action. He just said he liked the concept. As 90 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: frustrating as that tepid support must have been, Sonora smart 91 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: Dodd never stopped pushing for the official record ignition of 92 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: Father's Day, but without a proclamation signed by the President, 93 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: the holiday would remain unofficial for the next several decades. 94 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 1: Part of the reason for that second class status is 95 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: that many people weren't sold on the idea of a 96 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: day for honoring dads. Some viewed the sentimental concept as 97 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: a threat to manliness, while others accused it of being 98 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: just another commercial holiday cooked up to sell greeting cards 99 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: and neckties. In the nineteen twenties and thirties, there was 100 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: also a push to combine Father's Day and Mother's Day 101 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: into a single catch all Parents' Day. The idea never 102 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: fully caught on, but the support for it was another 103 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,839 Speaker 1: setback in the fight to make Father's Day official. World 104 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: War Two marked a turning point for the holiday, as 105 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: advertisers began to spin Father's Day as a way to 106 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: support the war effort and to honor American troops. By 107 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: the time the war was over, it still was an 108 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,160 Speaker 1: a federal holiday, but its place in US culture had 109 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: been secured, and for all surprisingly, Father's Day's new claim 110 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: to patriotism still wasn't enough to rescue it from holiday limbo. 111 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: In fact, it would be another twenty years before the 112 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: subject was broached at the federal level. That was in 113 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a 114 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: proclamation designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Unfortunately, 115 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: it only applied to that year, so in nineteen sixty 116 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: seven the holiday reverted it to its unofficial status. Finally, 117 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: six years later, in nineteen seventy two, President Richard Nixon 118 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: corrected the oversight by making Father's Day a permanent national holiday, 119 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: and although the man who inspired it all had passed 120 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: away in nineteen nineteen, his daughter Sonora, was there to 121 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:55,679 Speaker 1: witness the day at age ninety. More than fifty years later, 122 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: Father's Day is now celebrated all around the world, with 123 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: many country He's choosing to observe it on the third 124 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: Sunday of June. Just like in the US, the hard 125 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: fought holiday shares equal billing on the calendar with Mother's Day, 126 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,679 Speaker 1: and despite early concerns, it didn't lead to the wide 127 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: scale domestication of Dad's The claim that it functions mostly 128 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 1: as a commercial holiday is a little harder to dispute, 129 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: given that Americans alone spent nearly twenty three billion dollars 130 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: on Father's Day gifts in twenty twenty three, but it's 131 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: not the most sales driven of the so called greeting 132 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: card holidays. That distinction goes to Mother's Day, with consumers 133 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,839 Speaker 1: spending about thirty six billion dollars on gifts for Mom 134 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. That's thirteen billion more than Father's 135 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: Day spending, proving that after all this time, and even 136 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: with a holiday of his own, dear old Dad still 137 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: takes a back seat to Mom. The good news is 138 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: by now he's used to it. I'm gave lous day, 139 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history 140 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you have a second 141 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: and you're so inclined, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, 142 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC show. You can also rate 143 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,719 Speaker 1: and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can 144 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: send your feedback directly by writing to This Day at 145 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett 146 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 147 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 148 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: in History class.