Overview
- Father's Day will be observed on Sunday, June 21, 2026, in many countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and India.
- The holiday traces back to an early U.S. observance in Fairmont, West Virginia, in 1908 and later grassroots campaigns that pushed the idea into wider public life.
- The United States gave formal recognition when President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a proclamation in 1966 naming the third Sunday in June for fathers and President Richard Nixon made it a permanent national observance in 1972.
- Attributions for the holiday's founding vary in popular accounts, with some crediting Sonora Smart Dodd and others pointing to the 1908 Fairmont service, and reporting sometimes mixes dates and details.
- Countries observe Father’s Day on different dates and with different status, so celebrations range from cards and family time on the third Sunday of June to separate national dates tied to local traditions such as St Joseph’s Day.