The Surprisingly Sad Origins of Mother’s Day

Perhaps it's appropriate that the day on which Americans celebrate mothers has an odd set of parents: President Woodrow Wilson is usually seen as the "father" of Mother's Day — for signing a proclamation on May 9, 1914, declaring the second Sunday of May "a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country" — while copywriter Anna Jarvis is usually seen as the "mother" of Mother's Day, for creating the movement that led to the proclamation.