The origin of Father's Day is not clear. Some believe this holiday was initiated by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Dodd proposed in 1909 to have a church service dedicated to fathers on June 5th, her father's birthday. Mrs. Dodd's father, William Jackson Smart, was a civil War veteran. His wife died early in childbirth. He refused to remarry and single-handedly raised his 6 children. Mrs. Dodd wanted to recognize the sacrifices her father made in raising herself and her brothers, and to acknowledge fathers everywhere. However, since her minister needed more time to prepare for the sermon, the father's day service was conducted on June 19th, a couple of weeks later. The state of Washington celebrated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day from then on. However, Father's Day was not accepted quickly by the Congress as a day of observance. It was not until sixty-two years later, in 1972, that President Richard Nixon officially established Father's Day as a national day of observance.
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