The U.S. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1908. Lawmakers reportedly joked that approving it might require them to create a “Mother-in-law’s Day” as well.
The rejection did not end the campaign. Anna Jarvis continued writing to politicians, religious organizations, and business leaders, while public observances spread across the country. West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother’s Day, in 1910.
By 1911, all U.S. states were observing the occasion in some form. Congress eventually passed legislation on May 8, 1914, designating the second Sunday in May and requesting a presidential proclamation. President Woodrow Wilson issued that proclamation the next day.
A common mix-up is to treat 1908 as the year the federal holiday was established. It was instead the year of the first major observance and the congressional rejection; federal recognition came six years later, in 1914.