I was surprised to learn from a newspaper article this morning that Father’s Day was not officially recognized by the US government until 1972, the year after I graduated from high school. Promoted in the United States by Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, Father’s day was first celebrated in June, 1910, and was recommended as a national holiday by President Calvin Coolidge 15 years later. Father’s Day was recognized by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1956. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day. It took six more years before President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day.

So, for the first 19 years of my life, I celebrated a holiday that wasn’t even “official” yet! But I still love my Dad. Officially.

Thank you, Richard Nixon, for making it all official. And thank you Dad, for all the great Father’s Days and all those days in between.

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