Fathers Day is June 16, 2024
Even though it took 60 years from the time someone thought of Fathers Day to the time Congress passed the bill that made Father’s Day a holiday, we don’t have to wait that long to show Dad just how much he means to us.
To Dad, With Love
The earliest known Fathers Days were created to mourn the losses of fathers, and since 1908, Fathers Day has been regarded as a day of recognition for all fathers.
While Fathers Day is a time for us to demonstrate our appreciation for our fathers, it was the unrelenting tenacity of America's daughters that brought the idea to life.
From Grace Golden Clayton's Fathers Day memorial (honoring 250 fathers lost in a mining incident) in 1908, to Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith's 1957 argument in Washington D.C. that ultimately convinced President Lyndon B. Johnson to make the first Fathers Day proclamation (in 1966), and every national campaign for nearly 60 years in between; America's daughters never gave up their efforts on behalf of dear ol' Dad.
President Lyndon B. Johnson's Proclamation Reads as Follows:
Proclamation 3730, June 15, 1966
The third Sunday in June has for many years been observed as Fathers Day. It is most appropriate that the Congress, by enactment of Senate Joint Resolution 161, has now given official recognition to this well-established tradition.
In the homes of our Nation, we look to the fathers to provide the strength and stability which characterize the successful family.
If the father's responsibilities are many, his rewards are also great— the love, appreciation, and respect of children and spouse. It is the desire to acknowledge publicly these feelings we have for the fathers of our Nation that has inspired the Congress to call for the formal observance of Father's Day.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, in consonance with Senate Joint Resolution 161 of the Eighty-ninth Congress, request the appropriate Government officials to arrange for the display of the flag on all Government buildings on Father's Day, Sunday, June 19, 1966.
I invite State and local governments to cooperate in the observance of that day; and I urge all our people to give public and private expression to the love and gratitude which they bear for their fathers.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE at the City of Washington this fifteenth day of June in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninetieth.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Photo Call!
Send us your pictures of Dad on Fathers Day, American flags, flagpoles, ropes, or other accessories! We would be honored to feature your photography in our blog or on Facebook. Remember, photos of damaged flags and accessories are valuable, too.
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Have a great day, from your friends at LIBERTY FLAGS, The American Wave®.
