American Minute with Bill Federer

May 9

Mother's Day was held in Boston in 1872 at the suggestion of Julia Ward Howe, writer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

But it was Anna Jarvis, daughter of a Methodist minister in Grafton, West Virginia, who made it a national event.

During the Civil War, Anna Jarvis' mother organized Mothers' Day Work Clubs to care for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.

She raised money for medicine, inspected bottled milk, improved sanitation and hired women to care for families where mothers suffered from tuberculosis.

In her mother's honor, Anna Jarvis persuaded her church to set aside the 2nd Sunday in May, the anniversary of her mother's death, as a day to appreciate all mothers.

Encouraged by the reception, Anna Jarvis organized it in Philadelphia, then began a letter-writing campaign to ministers, businessmen and politicians to establish a national Mother's Day.

In response, on MAY 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first National Mother's Day as a "public expression of...love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

President Reagan said in his Mother's Day Proclamation, 1986:

"A Jewish saying sums it up: 'God could not be everywhere - so He created mothers.'"

AF adds - God is, of course, omnipotent!