In the April 10th Northwest Herald, I came across a political cartoon with an old hippy wearing a tee shirt with a Peace Symbol on it facing a monster called War. It was captioned "News Item: Peace Symbol Turns 50." The monster is holding a skull with a candle in it and saying, "Sorry, I didn't have time to bake a cake...I haven't had a break from work since 3000 B.C.!" By Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Is that ever TRUE!!!
Great cartoon, but I had no idea the peace symbol was that old. I just always figured it was something from the 1960s anti-war movement.
Well, after a wikipedia check, I found out I was quite wrong. Here's the story.
It was designed February 21, 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist in Britain. It is a combination of the semaphoric signals for N and D. N has two flags held downward at 45 degree angles and D has the flags held straight up and down. It stood for Nuclear Disarmament.
It was designed for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and adopted as the badge of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
It was first seen in the US in 1958 when Albert Bigelow sailed a small boat close to a nuclear test site and flew a CND banner.
It made its first appearance in the US in 1960 when Philip Atbach, a freshman at the University of Chicago, returned from a meeting with peace groups in London.
It became the national symbol for the 1960s anti-war movement and is derisively called the Mark of the Great American Chicken by those who were against the anti-war movement. It does resemble a bird foot in a circle.
Happy Birthday to N and D. --Old Coot
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