The first Father's Day event was held on July 8, 1908 at a West Virginia church, explicitly to honor of fathers. You see, during the sermon 362 men had died in an explosion in December at the Fairmont Coal Company mines at Monongah. The men were honored in a one-time commemoration.
The road to declaring a nationally-honored Father's Day was a long one, spanning over 60 years. President Calvin Coolidge supported the holiday but did not make a proclamation. President Woodrow Wilson spoke at a Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington but Congress resisted making the holiday official out of fear it would become commercialized.
Finally Lyndon B. Johnson was the one who declared the third Sunday in June as Father's Day though it is not yet made a permanent national holiday.
Finally Lyndon B. Johnson was the one who declared the third Sunday in June as Father's Day though it is not yet made a permanent national holiday.