The history of Father’s Day

Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in many parts of the world. Sonora Dodd, in the US, came upon the idea of having a day to honour fathers while she was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. This was because she wanted to honour the special man that her father was for he had single-handedly raised six children after the death of his wife.
She started a movement to gain local support and wanted Father’s Day to be held on June 5th which was her father’s birthday. However, the preparations could not be done in time and it was observed on the third Sunday of June 1910.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day and it was in 1972 when President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day. — W.R 

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/18/the-history-of-fathers-day.html

This week in history

JUNE 18
1812: The war of 1812 between United States and Britain begins
1815: Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by British, German and Dutch forces
1908: The University of the Philippines is established
1928: Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
1953: Egypt is declared a republic and the monarchy is abolished
1983: Indian all-rounder, Kapil Dev scores 175 not out in a World Cup match against Zimbabwe
1983: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space
2005: Bangladesh shock Australia in a One-Day match at Cardiff
2006: The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat is launched
2009: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched
JUNE 19
1862: Slavery is abolished in United States, all slaves are freed
1903: English Test batsman, Walter Hammond is born
1949: Prominent Muslim philosopher, Syed Zafarul Hasan dies
1962: American singer and choreographer, Paula Abdul is born
1970: Indian politician, Rahul Gandhi is born
1978: Famous cartoon character, Garfield appears in his first comic strip
JUNE 20
1819: The 320-tonne Savannah becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic
1837: Queen Victoria ascends the British throne
1840: Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph
1877: Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Canada
1954: English cricketer, Allan Lamb is born
1967: Boxer Mohammad Ali is stripped of his heavyweight title after being convicted of draft evasion during the Vietnam War
1967: Hollywood actress, Nicole Kidman is born
1975: Hollywood’s adventure movie, Jaws is released
1981: Pakistani opener, Taufeeq Umar is born
1990: Asteroid Eureka is discovered
1991: The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin
1999: Australia outclass Pakistan to win the final of seventh Cricket World Cup
JUNE 21
1527: Italian statesman, Niccolo Machiavelli dies
1929: Former Pakistan cricketer, Agha Saadat Ali is born
1953: Former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto is born
1970: Pele leads Brazil over Italy as the South Americans win their third football World Cup
1975: West Indies beat Australia in the final to clinch the first Cricket World Cup
1982: Son of Prince Charles and Diana — Prince William — is born
2004: Michael Melvill pilots the first privately-developed spacecraft — SpaceShipOne — into space
2006: Pluto’s newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra
2009: Pakistan defeat Sri Lanka to clinch the second World Twenty20 cricket tournament
JUNE 22
1815: Napoleon abdicates his throne for the second time after his defeat at Waterloo
1874: Dr Andrew Still becomes the first to practice osteopathy
1910: The first commercial passengers to ride in a Zeppelin board the airship Deutschland
1932: Indian actor, Amrish Puri is born
1956: Pakistani statesman, Shah Mehmood Qureshi is born
2001: The first instalment of The Fast and the Furious is released
2009: Eastman Kodak Company announces the end of the Kodachrome Colour Film
JUNE 23
1868: Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for type-writer1979: West Indies defeat England in final of second World Cup to retain the trophy
1980: Former West Indian captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan is born
1980: Indian politician, Sanjay Gandhi dies
1995: Dr Jonas Salk, the medical pioneer who developed the first polio vaccine, dies
JUNE 24
1597: The first Dutch voyage to the East Indies reaches Bantam (on Java)
1692: Kingston, Jamaica is founded
1894: An international agreement regarding the resumption of Olympic Games is signed
1901: The first exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work opens
1938: The first televised Test match between England and Australia at Lord’s begins
1939: Siam is renamed to Thailand by Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram
1997: The US Air Force releases The Roswell Report
2000: Pakistan’s Abdur Razzaq becomes the youngest bowler to take a Test hat-rick
2010: John Isner of the US defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history
— O. A. 

Source : http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/18/this-week-in-history-35.html