Did you know that Mother's Day was officially recognized as a nationwide holiday in the United States 58 years before Father's Day? The first state to recognize this special day for dad's was the state of Washington with President Richard Nixon not proclaiming an official celebration until 1972. That really doesn't sound like that long ago, but our amazing father's are officially recognized now on a day of their very own.
Mother's Day was formally approved as a resolution in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson, making the second Sunday in May a joyful celebration of mother's and mother-like figures. Father's Day didn't seem to pick up much steam however as men felt it emasculated them, that men did not want to
be showered with flowers and feminine gifts like the mother's did. In 1924, President Coolidge worked hard
to urge state governments to observe Father's Day, however it fell to the wayside as a commercial gimmick where dad would end up paying for his gifts himself since he was the breadwinner.
In the 1930's, many tried to combine both Mother's Day and Father's Day into one holiday, to celebrate
both parents with Parent's Day. Due to the unfortunate Depression that hit, this movement was halted and retailers choose to move forward with reclassifying the types of gifts dads would now receive. No longer would flowers and homemade gifts be the standard, but instead goods that men actually liked such as ties, cigars, golf clubs, etc. By the end of World War II, Father's Day was a national institution, although it wasn't a federal holiday.
It wasn't until 1972 that President Nixon declared Father's Day a national holiday, and since then each year father's are showered with gifts like sporting goods, Father's Day Beer Basket, and socks. Long live this tradition of celebrating dad's across this great country for all they sacrifice for their kids each and every day.