The idea of Father’s Day was conceived by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. A day in June was chosen for the first Father’s Day celebration — June 19, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane’s mayor because it was the month of Smart’s birth. The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.

A good place to buy dad a tie or a shirt might be one of 8,685 men’s clothing stores around the country. Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts are tools such as hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers. You could buy some of these items for dad at one of the nation’s 14,257 hardware stores or 5,925 home centers (as of 2005).

64.3 million: Estimated number of fathers across the nation.

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to 05/21/08 at 07:11 GMT (EST+5) is 304,134,342

One birth every.................................................   7 seconds
One death every..............................................  13 seconds
One international migrant (net) every............  30 seconds
Net gain of one person every.......................... 11 seconds

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