Who is Father's Day founding father? (Think, 'security breach.')
Who's the Founding Father of Father's Day? In a way, it鈥檚 Richard Nixon.
Yes, yes, we know that the first Sunday devoted to dads was celebrated a century ago 鈥� on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Wash. A woman named thought the thing up as a way to honor her Civil War vet father.
But Father鈥檚 Day did not exactly sweep the nation, back in the day, notes Georgia State University sociologist Ralph LaRossa in his book 鈥淭he Modernization of Fatherhood.鈥� Mother鈥檚 Day was different 鈥� everybody loved that from its 1908 start 鈥� but many people were suspicious of Father鈥檚 Day. Some religious figures thought it was just a plot to sell hats. Some men thought it was just a plot to make them come in from the garage and get cleaned up for dinner.
This caused politicians to be wary of standing too close to Father鈥檚 Day festivities. President Wilson showed up in Spokane for the nascent holiday in 1916 but sort of waved at the celebration from afar. A few years later, President Coolidge urged states to organize their own Father鈥檚 Days.
The holiday鈥檚 popularity built slowly over the years. In 1957, GOP Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine blasted her congressional colleagues for ignoring Father鈥檚 Day, saying that to single out one parent (Mom) while ignoring the other was 鈥渢he most grievous insult imaginable.鈥� But it was not until 1971 that Congress passed a bill in favor of making Father鈥檚 Day a national holiday.
That鈥檚 where Dick Nixon comes in. At the time, his reelection campaign was ratcheting up, and we鈥檒l bet this looked like a political no-brainer. In response to Congress, on April 25, 1972, he issued a proclamation that officially made the third Sunday in June 鈥渁n occasion for renewal of the love and gratitude we bear to our fathers.鈥�
But in the Nixon household, that year鈥檚 Father鈥檚 Day was not happy.
First of all, America鈥檚 first dad was familyless. He was in Key Biscayne, Fla. His wife was in Los Angeles. His daughters were elsewhere. (Press accounts of the day note that the girls called.)
This was probably just as well. Sunday, June 18, 1972 鈥� the first government-sanctioned Father鈥檚 Day in United States history 鈥� was the day news broke about a burglary the previous night at the Democratic National Committee office in the Watergate complex.
The secrets of Watergate would eventually spill out and doom Nixon鈥檚 presidency. Here鈥檚 hoping that on that fateful Father鈥檚 Day, someone at least gave him a card or a nice tie.
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