While early incarnations of Mother’s Day began popping up in the 1860s, it took longer for a special day for fathers to catch on. Maybe because men are notoriously difficult to shop for! President Woodrow Wilson signed Mother’s Day into law in 1914, but it took another fifty-plus years before President Lyndon Johnson formalized Father’s Day in 1966. In 1972, President Richard Nixon made the holiday permanent.   It’s not that folks didn’t want to give Dad his due before then. Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was an early proponent of Father’s Day. Dodd thought if mothers got Mother’s Day, it was only fair for fathers to have a day in their honor. She started a movement amongst area churches. Spokane celebrated its first Father’s Day in 1910. Dodd selected June as the proper month because her own father was a June baby.   The idea spread through the nation in stops and starts. President Wilson approved of the Father’s Day idea, but never made it official. Calvin Coolidge made a point of encouraging closer relationships between fathers and their children. During the ‘20s and ‘30s, some people wanted to celebrate neither Mother’s nor Father’s Day, but combine them into a single holiday, Parents’ Day.   So why did it take so long for Father’s Day to catch up to Mother’s Day? Perhaps it has something to do with men feeling they have to keep up their tough, protective image and not give in to sentimentality. But everybody likes to be appreciated, including the fathers in your life, whether they’ll admit it or not. Even if Dad say, “Really, I don’t want anything for Father’s Day,” he might secretly hope you’ll do something a little special.   Here are a few ideas for your father or father figures:   Spend time together. Buy two tickets for an event Dad likes, whether it’s a ballgame or an opera   Cook his favorite dinner or bake a cake   For a lasting gift, choose a bracelet from Amidon. The lightweight titanium bracelets are hypoallergenic, stand up to surf and sun, and look cool like steel. Or if Dad’s a black tie kind of guy, go with the stacked black and steel cufflinks.   Most of all, tell Dad you appreciate him. Ponder these quotes by wise thinkers.   “It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.” -Pope John XXIII   “A father is someone who carries pictures in his wallet where his money used to be.” -Unknown