The third Sunday of June is generally observed as Father's Day throughout the United States. Although an isolated church service in Fairmont, West Virginia, honored fathers in July 1908 at the suggestion of Jessica ("Baba") Clinton Clayton, it is Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington who is most frequently credited with originating - in 1909 - the idea for a Father's Day observance that spread far beyond the confines of her own church. Her inspiration was her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who had been widowed when his daughter and five sons were very young. Realization of the difficulties he had, and appreciation for his constant devotion to his family sparked Mrs. Dodd's desire to honor all fathers. At her urging the Spokane Ministerial Association sponsored the first Father's Day Celebration. This first celebration was held in Spokane on the third Sunday of June - the month of her father's birth - in 1910, with local ministers calling the attention of their congregations to the appreciation fathers deserved. William Jennings Bryan, complimented Mrs. Dodd on the inspiration for Father's Day , and remarked," too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the relation between parent and child." The observance of Father's Day did not spread rapidly - not, for instance, as rapidly as Mother's Day, whose celebration in this country predated it only slightly.

Several people in various other parts of the United States also hit upon the idea of a Father's Day independently - though to this day Mrs. Dodd is credited with beginning the celebration. President Woodrow Wilson officially approved the idea of Father's Day in 1916. Harry C. Meek, president of the Uptown Lions Club of Chicago called upon both President Warren Harding and President Calvin Coolidge in unsuccessful attempts to have the day marked with issuance of a presidential proclamation. But, both were apprehensive about possible commercialization of the day. However, most state governors each year proclaim that Father's Day will be observed on the third Sunday in June in their states.

Then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson issued a Proclamation that Father's Day be observed on the third Sunday in June. On Father's Day in 1970 Mrs. Dodd, still living in Spokane, stressed the fact the one very important, timely, practical value attached to Father's Day was to provide an occasion for children to express appreciation of their fathers and for fathers to acknowledge their responsibilities to their children. God bless all Fathers past, and present.