THE HISTORY OF FATHER’S DAY: While countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal and many countries in South America still celebrate Father’s Day on 19 March, the shift to the third Sunday in June is connected to a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, whose father was a war veteran and raised her and her five siblings as a single parent. Mother’s Day had recently been introduced officially in the US, and Sonora felt strongly that fathers should also be recognised, and started campaigning for it. Her lobbying paid off and in 1972, President Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the 3rd Sunday of June each year.
AP