Lyndon Johnson signing the act
By Jonathan Miller, rabbi at Temple Emanu-El on Birmingham's Southside
Sunday is Father's Day. I spent time in the cyber-research library and looked up the origins of Father's Day. Here are three questions: When and where was the first Father's Day celebrated? When did it become the custom of the United States to celebrate Father's Day? And why was the first Father's Day celebrated?
First question: When and where was the first Father's Day celebrated?
Answer: July 5, 1908, at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South in Fairmont, W. V. I know that that is such a dumb question because everybody knows the answer to that!
Second question: When did it become the custom in the United States to celebrate Father's Day?
Answer: Well, this one is a little harder. In 1910, the Spokane, Wash. YMCA held its first day to honor fathers on June 19th. And then the clamor for it grew. It was sponsored by well meaning men and women, and by the way, retailers and producers of men's clothing, tobacco pipes, neckties, and traditional man gear.
And even with all of these traditional allies, it wasn't until 1966 that President Johnson issued the first Presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday in June as a day to honor fathers. President Nixon made it official when he signed the day into law as a national holiday in 1972.
It seems that there were forces opposed to Father's Day, that it took more than 60 years to make it official. Who were those nefarious forces that opposed the honoring of our dads?
The United States Congress, of course. In the 1920s and 30s, they reflected the sentiments of the American people who were concerned that Father's Day was just a ploy by commercial interests to pry money out of hard-working Americans to enrich the manufacturers and retailers of men's socks, handsaws and fishing rods. Can you imagine such suspect cynicism? They believed that the obligations to buy gifts for dear old Dad would impinge upon the finances of the struggling American family to fill the coffers of the wealthiest 1 percent. No to Father's Day was the rallying cry among some in the halls of Washington, DC. "We did this for our mothers, dammit, and we won't be fooled again. Our mothers -- at least they carried us for nine months and nursed us at the breast. We owe them something, after all. But Dads? What did they do? Dads? No siree!"
But three generations later, here comes the third Sunday in June, and we had better have gotten our cards and gifts all lined up for dear old Dad or Grandpa because otherwise ... well, I just don't want to imagine the heartache he would feel --- the same guy who put the training wheels on our bicycles and then took them off because he believed that we could ride without him and overcome our own fears; the same guy who took us to football games and stood out in the miserable hot sun to coach our little league games; and the same guy who got up at 5:30 in the morning to take us to the DMV to get our drivers' license --- yeah that guy. We don't want to disappoint him so we trudge off to the Hallmark store and to Home Depot and pick up some Round Up and put a bow on it and say "Happy Father's Day."
And you know what? Those hackneyed cards and neckties that nobody wears in June and the trinket the kids made in school during arts and crafts and Mom hid from Dad so we could give it to him on the third Sunday in June --- there is nothing more precious than these meaningless gifts which really mean everything to us as Dads.
Third question: Why was the first Father's Day celebrated?
According to the truth I uncovered in cyberspace, this was a bit of dueling banjos. The first Mother's Day was held in Grafton, W.V., in 2008. Anna Jarvis held a celebration for her mother, who had died. Not to be out done, a woman living 15 miles away in Fairmont, W.V. --- Grace Golden Clayton wanted to honor her father who just died in December along with 360 other men in a tragic mining accident. Some 250 of those men were fathers, leaving behind a thousand fatherless children. The first Father's Day was a day born of tragedy to a community that was devastated.
And today, it has morphed into a day of joy and celebration.
Father's Day speaks to us of the resilience of the human spirit. We have taken tragedy and turned it into joy and appreciation. How much better it is to squander a few bucks on a new wallet or pair of sunglasses in appreciation of our Dads than to observe a day of memorial in memory of our fathers who died too young.