"Today, Father, Is Father's Day"

Whenever I think of Father's Day, the first thing that comes to mind is a song written by Harry Ruby and sung by Groucho Marx on "The Dick Cavett Show" back around 1969 or 1970. It was titled "Father's Day" and began "Today, Father, Is Father's Day". Of course, no one could sing a Harry Ruby song like Groucho.

But what is the history of Father's Day? A complement to Mother's Day, Father's Day began in Fairmont, West Virginia on Sunday, July 5, 1908. It was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton, whose father and 209 other fathers had been killed in the Monongah Mining disaster in Monongah, West Virginia the previous December 6th. Yet because of unrelated city events, wasn't able to register her holiday honoring the lives of those fathers with the state of West Virginia.

A year later, Sonora Louise Smart of Spokane, Washington got an idea for a special day honoring fathers after hearing a sermon on Mother's Day, and wanted to honor her father, William Jackson Smart. The local YMCA and the Spokane Ministerial Association supported her idea. So the first Father's Day was registered and celebrated on Sunday, June 19, 1910.

Many resolutions were proposed to make it a national holiday. These included attempts in 1913, 1916(by President Woodrow Wilson), 1924(by President Calvin Coolidge), and others, all defeated by a U.S. Congress afraid of commercialization the proposed holiday might bring.

In 1957, Margaret Chase Smith, the U.S. Senator from Maine, wrote a proposal accusing the U.S. Congress of ignoring fathers for four decades while honoring mothers. In 1966, President Lyndon Baines Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation for a national day honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. This became a permanent national holiday in 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed it into law.

Father's Day is celebrated all over the world, but at different times of the year depending on the country. In addition, International Men's Day is celebrated in many parts of the world on November 19th. This holiday also honors fathers.