The daughter of Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, SAIC alum Sonora Smart Dodd (1882–1978) had the utmost respect and reverence for her father. While listening to a church sermon about the newly recognized Mother's Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition as well. She approached the Spokane Ministerial Alliance in her home state of Washington and suggested her own father's birthday, June 5, as a day to honor fathers. The Alliance chose the third Sunday in June instead.

The first Father's Day was celebrated June 19, 1910 in Spokane, and 62 years later President Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June each year.