Father's
Day is observed in the United States and in other countries
on the third Sunday in June. It is a time to honor fathers and
celebrate the important role that fathers play in the family.
One of the first known Father's Day observances occurred on
July 5, 1908 in West Virginia, the same year as the first Mother's
Day. That first Father's Day was organized to honor 210 miners
who had been killed. The first celebration of what is now the
official Father's Day on the third Sunday in June, took place
in Spokane, Washington in 1910. Three years later, Congress
introduced a bill to recognize it as a national holiday, but
this and several later attempts were not successful. The day
was not officially recognized until President Lyndon Johnson
issued the first proclamation for Father's Day in 1966, and
in 1972, President Richard Nixon made it a permanent national
holiday.
