Father’s Day is a day to celebrate fatherhood (just as Mother’s Day celebrates motherhood) in many cultures throughout the world. It is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. It is not a federal U.S. holiday. On Father’s Day in the United States, children honor their fathers with greeting cards and gifts of appreciation. In the United States, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in 1910 as a result of the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd. Dodd wanted to honor her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who raised six children as a single parent. The idea won widespread support. The all-male U.S. Congress, however, did not want to pass legislation that might seem so favorable to males. Father’s Day thus did not receive official recognition until 1972 by President Richard Nixon.