Why Do We Celebrate Father’s Day?

Families are stronger when members commemorate important days. Sunday, June 15, 2025, is Father’s Day in the United States. This non-federal holiday is celebrated on the third Sunday in June in the United States.

Most government offices and businesses run their usual Sunday schedule. If they are open or closed on a regular Sunday, the same will be true on Father’s Day.

Even though Father’s Day is not a federal holiday, it is a meaningful day that most Americans observe. It is a day to thank the father-figures in our lives: fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, guardians, and other male role models who give us their love, guidance, and support. It can be observed with a quiet meal or a big celebration.

The important thing about Father’s Day is the act of showing appreciation for fathers and their important role in our lives and society. This site gives the following history of Father’s Day in the United States. 

The idea of celebrating Father’s Day started in the early 1900s. In 1908, Grace Golden Clayton held a church service in Fairmont, West Virginia, to honor fathers who died in the 1907 mining disaster in Monongah, West Virginia.

A year later, Sonora Smart Dodd, a young woman from Spokane, Washington, proposed a national Father’s Day. Inspired by a Mother’s Day sermon, she wanted to honor her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran and widower who raised his six children alone.

Sonora approached the Spokane Ministerial Alliance for support. Although she suggested June 5, her father’s birthday, the alliance opted for the third Sunday in June to give pastors more time to prepare their sermons.

With help from local churches, community groups, and the Spokane Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the first Father’s Day celebration was held on June 19, 1910.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson visited Spokane and spoke at a Father’s Day service, showing early presidential support. The idea gained momentum over time.

By the 1930s, advertisers and retailers began promoting Father’s Day as a commercial holiday, encouraging people to buy gifts and cards. The National Council for the Promotion of Father’s Day helped push the holiday into wider public acceptance through marketing campaigns.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a presidential proclamation recognizing Father’s Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed it into law as an official national observance.