Reference: Fast Facts and Stats For Father’s Day 2013

Happy Father’s Day to All of the Dads Out There!
Here’s a compilation of facts and statistics prepared by the U.S. Census.
Highlights Include:

The idea of Father’s Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago 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 17, 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.
70.1 million
Estimated number of fathers across the nation in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available.
7,368
The number of men’s clothing stores around the country (as of 2010), a good place to buy dad a tie or shirt.
189,000
Estimated number of stay-at-home dads in 2012. These married fathers with children younger than 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wife works outside the home. These fathers cared for upward of 369,000 children.

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