Father’s Day Facts You May Not Have Known

Here are some Father's Day Facts and Figures you may not have been aware of and didn't know who to ask:

•The idea of Father's Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington while she listened to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

 Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children, and dispel the notion that all men were lazy, sleazy and drunk.

• The first Father's Day was observed one year later on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington.
• In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day.
• In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.

• There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the year: An estimated $1 billion is spent each year in the United States for Father's Day gifts, but Dad is still footing the bill when it comes to phone calls from the kids. Father's Day ranks number one for the day that the most collect calls are made, according to AT&T.
• Dads receive far fewer greeting cards than moms. About 140 million moms receive cards for Mother's Day, compared to just 90 million dads getting Father's Day cards.

Source: Census.gov