To Honor a Father

             As was the tradition of giving carnations on Mother’s Day, Sonora wanted to give out roses for Father’s Day. A red rose to honor a living father and a while flower to honor a decreased father. Later the white lilac was chosen as the official Father’s Day Flower.

            Newspapers across the county that had highly endorsed Mother’s Day, carried stories about this unique Spokane observance for fathers.

            However, Father’s Day was not as quickly accepted as Mother’s Day. The members of an all-male Congress felt that a move to proclaim the day as an official holiday could be interpreted as a self-congratulatory pat on the back.

            In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson and his family personally observed the day. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended all states if they wished should honor fathers on the third Sunday.

Image via Wikipedia : Calvin Coolidge

     While many people attempted to secure official recognition for Father’s Day the most notable effort was made by Senator Margaret Chase Smith in 1957. She forcefully wrote to Congress that we either honor both our parents, mother and father, or let us desist from honoring either one. But to single out just one of our two parents and omit the other was the most grievous insult imaginable.

Image by Wikipedia : Margaret Chase Smith

            Finally in 1972, sixty-two years after it was first proposed-Father’s Day was permanently established as a holiday by President Richard Nixon.

            So a token born out of the love and gratitude of a daughter for a cherished and beloved father has become what we now know as Father’s Day.