Woodrow Wilson proclaims the first Mother’s Day holiday
On this day in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson issues a presidential proclamation that officially establishes the first national Mothers Day holiday to celebrate Americas mothers.The idea for a Mothers Day is credited by some to Julia Ward Howe (1872) and by others to Anna Jarvis (1907) who both suggested a holiday dedicated to a day of peace.Many individual states celebrated Mothers Day by 1911 but it was not until Wilson lobbied Congress in 1914 that Mothers Day was officially set on the second Sunday of every May.In his first Mothers Day proclamation Wilson stated that the holiday offered a chance to [publicly express] our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.In 2002 President George W.
Bush echoed Wilsons sentiments by acknowledging mothers in his official statement on Mothers Day in 2002.He commended foster mothers as well as his own fabulous mother for their love and sacrifice.He also mentioned past presidents expressions of appreciation for their mothers.
He quoted John Quincy Adams as having said all that I am my mother made me and Abraham Lincolns sentiment that all that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother [my mothers prayers] have clung to me all my life.Bushs own mother Barbara was a popular first lady when the elder Bush served as president from 1989 to 1992.
