On May 9, 1914, Mother’s Day became an official holiday by President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation. A holiday to celebrate mothers had been suggested by others in earlier times, and by 1911, some states pronounced their own Mother’s Day. But 1914 was the first time it became a national holiday. In his 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.”
