By: HISTORY.com Editors

1914

Woodrow Wilson proclaims the first Mother’s Day holiday

Published: November 16, 2009Last Updated: May 28, 2025

On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issues a presidential proclamation that officially establishes the first national Mother’s Day holiday to celebrate America’s mothers.

The idea for a “Mother’s 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 Mother’s Day by 1911, but it was not until Wilson lobbied Congress in 1914 that Mother’s Day was officially set on the second Sunday of every May. In his first Mother’s Day proclamation, Wilson stated that the holiday offered a chance to “[publicly express] our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”

Timeline

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1671

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1887

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1915

Allies launch dual offensive on Western Front

On May 9, 1915, Anglo-French forces fighting in World War I launch their first combined attempt to break through the heavily fortified German trench lines on the Western Front in France. At Vimy Ridge, a strategically important crest of land on the Aisne River, in northwestern France, French troops launched an attack on German positions […]

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1926

Explorer Richard Byrd claims to have flown over the North Pole

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1950

L. Ron Hubbard publishes “Dianetics”

On May 9, 1950, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986) publishes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. With this book, Hubbard introduced a branch of self-help psychology called Dianetics, which quickly caught fire and, over time, morphed into a belief system called Scientology. Hubbard was already a prolific and frequently published writer by the time he penned […]

1960

FDA approves “the pill”

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1964

An unlikely challenger ends the Beatles’ reign atop the U.S. pop charts

On May 9, 1964, the great Louis Armstrong, age 63, broke the Beatles’ stranglehold on the U.S. pop charts with the #1 hit “Hello Dolly.” Following the ascension of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to #1 in early February, the Beatles held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three and a […]

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1969

Reporter breaks news of secret bombing in Cambodia

William Beecher, military correspondent for the New York Times, publishes a front page dispatch from Washington, “Raids in Cambodia by U.S. Unprotested,” which accurately described the first of the secret B-52 bombing raids in Cambodia. Within hours, Henry Kissinger, presidential assistant for national security affairs, contacted J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asking him […]

1970

President Nixon meets with anti-war protesters at the Lincoln Memorial

In the early hours of May 9, 1970, a frazzled President Richard Nixon embarks upon what his chief of staff will describe as “the weirdest day so far” of his presidency. Preoccupied with the recent Kent State shootings and the unrest that has spread to college campuses across the country, Nixon makes an impromptu and […]

1974

House votes to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Nixon

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon, voting to impeach him on three counts on July 30. The impeachment was the result of the scandal involving the bungled burglary of the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 1972. […]

1978

Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is found dead

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1988

Woman convicted of killing two in Excedrin tampering

Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act after putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules in an effort to kill her husband. Stella and Bruce Nickell married in 1976, shortly before seven people were killed […]

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1997

Andrew Cunanan continues murder spree

The body of William Reese, 45, a cemetery caretaker, is found in rural Pennsville, New Jersey, on May 9, 1997. He had been shot in the head with a Golden Saber .38-caliber bullet. Police soon determined that the killer was Andrew Cunanan, a 27-year-old man already wanted for three murders. It appeared that Cunanan had […]

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Citation Information

Article Title: Woodrow Wilson proclaims the first Mother’s Day holiday
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-9/woodrow-wilson-proclaims-the-first-mothers-day-holiday

Date Accessed: October 29, 2026
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: May 28, 2025
Original Published Date: November 16, 2009

Woodrow Wilson proclaims the first Mother’s Day holiday

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