Father’s Day Fast Facts

CNN Editorial Research

Here is a look at Father’s Day, celebrated the third Sunday in June.

Facts

June 20, 2021 – Father’s Day.

According to Hallmark, Father’s Day is the fourth-largest card-sending occasion with 72 million cards given every year.

Fifty percent of all Father’s Day cards are purchased for fathers, according to Hallmark. Almost 20 percent of Father’s Day cards are given to husbands.

The US Census Bureau estimates there were 72.2 million fathers in the United States in 2014.

Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, is credited with starting Father’s Day after hearing a sermon on Mother’s Day while attending church with her father.

Dodd wanted to honor her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran who raised six children after his wife died during childbirth.

According to the National Retail Federation annual survey:
Consumer spending on Father’s Day is expected to surpass a record $20.1 billion in 2021.

In 2021, nearly 75% of people intend to celebrate Father’s Day.

Timeline

1910 – Spokane celebrates the first Father’s Day on June 19.

1924 – President Calvin Coolidge publicly supports plans for a national Father’s Day.

1966 – President Lyndon Johnson signs a proclamation calling for Father’s Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June.

1972 – President Richard Nixon signs into law a permanent recognition of Father’s Day.