Father’s Day can sometimes seem like an afterthought in the late-spring holiday lineup: third place behind Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, a mere warm-up barbecue before the Fourth of July. But the occasion wasn’t invented merely to sell greeting cards, coffee mugs, and last-minute neckties. On the contrary, when Father’s Day became a national holiday in 1972, it was intended—though, badly—to address the most contentious and persistent issues in American history and politics. Its origins lie in