Sonora Smart Dodd thought independently of the holiday one Sunday in 1909 while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in Spokane.  She wanted a celebration that honored fathers that were like her own father, William Smart. He was a Civil War veteran, whose wife died when Sonora was 16.  In the eyes of his daughter, he was a courageous, selfless and loving man while raising his six children.

On June 19, 1910, she arranged a tribute for her father in Spokane.  in 1909, she had previously enlisted the help of the Spokane Ministerial association, and young members of the YMCA who went to church wearing roses: a red rose to honor a living father, and a white rose to honor a deceased one.  Dodd traveled through the city in a closed carriage, carrying gifts to shut-in fathers.  She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance to honor all fathers.

It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar.  Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was met with laughter.  The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper Spokesman-Review.  Many people saw it as just the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions like "Grandparent's Day", "Professional Secretaries' Day", etc., all the way down to "National Clean Your Desk Day."

A bill was introduced in 1913.  In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father's Day celebration and wanted to make it official; but Congress resisted, fearing that it would be commercialized.  In 1924, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge recommended that the celebration be held, and a national committee was formed in the 1930s by trade groups in order to legitimize the holiday.  Another two bills to introduce the holiday were defeated.  In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "[singling] out just one of our own parents"  In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made a proclamation for the third Sunday of June to be Father's Day, but it was not made an official national holiday until President Nixon made a proclamation in 1972.