Peace Sign Turns Fifty

Thanks to my colleague Scott Klein for telling me that the Peace Sign, one of the most widely known symbols in the world, turns fifty this week. It was first displayed on home-made banners and badges in London on February 21, 1958, to mark the launching of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

The sign was later appropriated by scores of disparate protest movements, the US counter culture (which made it truly famous) and, because the designer has refused to copyright the symbol, by scores of marketers and advertisers. For reasons unknown the peace sign has resonated like no other and it's now, at fifty, one of the most widely recognized symbols in the world.

Ironically the symbol itself is a mix of the military semaphore signals N -- representing nuclear -- and D -- representing disarmament (semaphore alphabet). However, Gerald Holtom, a professional artist and conscientious objector during the Second World War who designed the symbol, subverted this use of semaphores by placing the D over the N, the "upside down logo" signifying his anti-military principles.

Watch the video below to see a dramatic, human-lettered peace symbol spelled out in Prague last year. Then, click here to check out a gallery of contemporary versions of the symbol and here for ways you can help wage peace.

Comments (25)

1. Interesting CND formed in 1958...Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty, SALT-I, ABM treaty....but little actual "nuclear disarmament" until...the Soviet Union fell in 1990.

   Posted by Mask at 02/19/2008 @ 12:44pm

2. Interesting CND formed in 1958...Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty, SALT-I, ABM treaty....but little actual "nuclear disarmament" until...the Soviet Union fell in 1990.

   Posted by MASK 02/19/2008 @ 12:44pm

   well, why bother listening to the little people...............

   Posted by frosty zoom at 02/19/2008 @ 12:48pm

3. Wikipedia.org:

   '...Established in 1871, Benz & Cie. was the most important of several companies founded by Karl Benz. The Benz patent motor wagon was ahead of its times; by 1886, Benz had the first four-stroke engine. Karl Benz is credited as the inventor of the first "true" automobile since Daimler's vehicle was a horse carriage adapted with an engine, whereas the 1886 Benz automobile had a chassis designed from scratch.

   Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft-(DMG) was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and his partner Wilhelm Maybach in 1890. Daimler died in 1900 and Maybach left DMG in 1907. By then, Benz & Cie. and DMG were rivals. In 1924, owing to economic necessity after World War I, they entered into an "Agreement of Mutual Interest" valid until the year 2000. This initial agreement still allowed each company to manufacture and sell their products under their original brand names. After the official merger in June 28, 1926, the firm became known as Daimler-Benz.

   The hyphenated brand name Mercedes-Benz was established after that merger. The brand name Daimler had been licensed for use on other automobiles in France and the United Kingdom, and was therefore not available to Daimler-Benz. Instead, the name of its seminal Mercedes model designed by Maybach over twenty years before was chosen for the DMG portion of the new brand. ("Mercedes" had been painted on a DMG vehicle used in races by a man in honor of his daughter, and became the formal name of a DMG model in 1902, see below.) Thus, Mercedes-Benz became the brand name applied to the models of one of the new firm. Because of its eponymous tie to Karl Benz and his early vehicles, Mercedes-Benz is also the name of the world's oldest continuously produced automobile line.

   As part of the 1926 merger, a new logo was created that would include a symbol for each and integrate the names of the two former companies. A three-pointed star had been designed by Gottlieb Daimler, to show the ability of his motors for land, air, and sea use. This star first appeared on a DMG model in 1909, so it was chosen for the new logo. The traditional laurel wreath symbol used by Karl Benz was added along with his name to complete the new logo. The logo with a plain ring, as seen today, was not used until 1937....'

   'Don't criticize what you can't understand.' - Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) 'Paredon!' - Ernesto 'El Carnifero' Guevara............................ ..................................... .. 'Lan Astaslem' - T-shirt, protestor at WTC rally

   Posted by HonestLiberal at 02/19/2008 @ 1:00pm

4. "Thanks to my colleague Scott Klein for telling me that the Peace Sign, one of the most widely known symbols in the world, turns fifty this week."

   Sakes alive, Peter..how could you forget!?..After all what that poor sign has been through..I'm shocked I tell ya, just shocked!... ;-0

   Have a great day! Gotta get back to work....

   Posted by ACook at 02/19/2008 @ 1:01pm

5. they came in peace...they left in pieces!!!!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 02/19/2008 @ 1:06pm

6. And here's to having less reason to use the sign, over the next 50 years.

   Posted by srjenkins at 02/19/2008 @ 1:43pm

7. '...One week of every year is designated National Brotherhood Week. This is just one of many such weeks honoring various worthy causes. .... This year, for example, on the first day of the week Malcolm X was killed which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is. I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I know there are people in the world that do not love their fellow human beings and I hate people like that....'

   -Tom Lehrer in concert, 3 December, 1958

   Posted by HonestLiberal at 02/19/2008 @ 2:07pm

8. And here's to having less reason to use the sign, over the next 50 years.

   Posted by SRJENKINS 02/19/2008 @ 1:43pm

   GET YOUR PEACE SIGNS*!!

   Great for looking hip. Great for spreading the message.

   We've got necklaces, bracelets..........

   Oh so cool!!!!!!!!!!!

   *madeinchina

   Posted by frosty zoom at 02/19/2008 @ 2:09pm

9. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 02/19/2008 @ 2:09pm

   Don't forget those "Che Guevara" T-shirts for the young radicals on campus.....uh, made in Guatemalan sweat shops!

   Posted by Mask at 02/19/2008 @ 2:41pm

10. Don't forget those "Che Guevara" T-shirts for the young radicals on campus.....uh, made in Guatemalan sweat shops!

    Posted by MASK 02/19/2008 @ 2:41pm

    yep.

    bought on credit.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 02/19/2008 @ 2:53pm

11. "bought"

    Posted by frosty zoom at 02/19/2008 @ 2:54pm

12. hey pete:

    didn't they let you go on the floating hog farm cruise?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 02/19/2008 @ 2:54pm

13. Don't forget those "Che Guevara" T-shirts for the young radicals on campus.....uh, made in Guatemalan sweat shops!

    Posted by MASK 02/19/2008 @ 2:41pm | ignore this person

    Maybe Chicimenga will get you some en route from Colombia on his next visit...for an appropriate mark-up of course!

    Posted by brunowe at 02/19/2008 @ 5:06pm

14. Posted by BRUNOWE 02/19/2008 @ 5:06pm

    Where IS CHIMI? Fleecing some poor campesino in Ecuador for 50 knapsacks for a fiver....to re-sale in the Bay Area for $150 a pop?

    Posted by Mask at 02/19/2008 @ 7:58pm

15. A concept whose time has come.

    Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27)

    Posted by crabwalk at 02/20/2008 @ 11:17am

16. Where IS CHIMI? Fleecing some poor campesino in Ecuador for 50 knapsacks for a fiver....to re-sale in the Bay Area for $150 a pop?

    Posted by MASK 02/19/2008 @ 7:58pm

    Last I checked with Chimi, he was giving the asking price for those sacks.

    at least he does not misrepresent your words, MASK.

    Posted by crabwalk at 02/20/2008 @ 11:19am

17. Posted by CRABWALK 02/20/2008 @ 11:17am

    thanks, crab.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 02/20/2008 @ 12:55pm

18. It's past time to put the nation's real needs into our national budget because the excessive spending by the military is sending us to ruin. Need to know why the national deficit is $9+ trillion dollars in the deep red, check out these numbers being requested by the Pentagon for about $1.2 trillion:

    Estimated 2009 USA Military Budget* (in billions)

    Direct Pentagon Budget Request: Salaries, General Operations, & Equipment ($481.4); Undetailed costs ($93.4); Additional "allowance" ($50.0:

    Supplements to Pentagon Budget: War on Terrorism ($141.7); Military recruitment ($1.03)

    Indirect Pentagon Budget Supplements: Dept. of Energy ($23.4); Dept. of State, foreign military assistance ($25.3); Dept. of Veteran Affairs ($75.7); Dept. of Homeland Security ($46.4); Dept. of Justice, FBI paramilitary activities ($1.9); Dept. of Treasury (Military Retirement Fund--38.5); NASA, military missions (7.6)

    Other Expenditures: Interest on Debt (est. 200.0)

    Total Estimated 2009 Pentagon Budget $1,186.33

    So, the next time that John McCain stands up before a microphone and complains about a $3 million grant to support getting DNA from brown bears to protect them, I would like to see just one reporter ask him: What percentage of the Pentagon budget does this represent?

    Posted by afrothetics at 02/20/2008 @ 4:58pm

19. Reply on two subjects

    To AFROTHETICS - The military budget is 19.7 percent of the total federal budget -

    http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/factfiles_detail.cfm?issue_type=feder al_budget&list=8

    19.7 certainly is not unreasonable given that we are at war with people who want to kill us, because of their own agenda, and not anything caused by us. (Don't forget- the Islamic fury over the cartoons in the Danish newspaper had nothing to do with the U.S., Iraq War, 9/11, or George W. Bush - yet the Islamic radicals wanted Danish people dead nonetheless).

    If you are concerned about the amount of money the government spends, then concern yourself with the total waste and inefficiency with which the Government conducts it's business, even things everybody would agree have to be done by government. Probably millions are wasted in inordinate paper-shuffling, sustainment of bureaucratic empires, salaries for people who can't be fired and whose pay raise is automatic and not dependent on their job performance. If you want to spend the money wisely, then try that subject first.

    As for the Peace Symbol, the symbol is personally offensive to me. Although the article mentions it was created in 1958, my first memory of it and the first real use of it was during the Vietnam War. It is a symbol that at that time did not reflect a desire for peace, but a political opinion regarding peace - with the lack of peace being blamed on the U.S. and the way to achieve peace being surrender and capitulation to our enemies.

    That is a kind of peace that results in death, misery and human suffering, and it always has.

    Thus it is distressing to see kids in modern times, if they are required for a school project or for some other effort to make posters or graphics about the subject of peace, to include that symbol in their posters. They do not even know what it represents, and, no surprise, their teachers (who ought to know better), do not tell them.

    Posted by sjchermak at 02/20/2008 @ 6:47pm

20. I understand Peter Rothberg's article on the peace symbol is well intended. However some of his information is incorrect. It is true this year represents the 50th Anniversary of Gerald Holtom's nuclear disarmament symbol. It was presented to the public on large banners and posters ("lollypops") on April 4, 1958 at Trafalgar Square in London - not February 21, 1958. The march from London to Aldermaston - site of the atomic weapons research plant - was sponsored by the Direct Action Committee (DAC), not the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) as so many sources have written over the years. For the past 40 years, I have been photographing and gathering information about the symbol and its use. Its a fascinating story. My work is now being published by National Geographic and titled Peace:The Biography of A Symbol and will be released April 1, 2008. The book covers the last 50 years and includes notes from Holtom's diary and some family photos. He died in 1985. The book also attempts to set the record straight about numerous misconceptions the public, politicians and publishers have. I hope The Nation, my favorite magazine, helps to set the record straight. posted by Ken Kolsbun

    Posted by kkolsbun at 02/20/2008 @ 10:31pm

21. Posted by KKOLSBUN 02/20/2008 @ 10:31pm

    congratulations on your geographic article.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 02/21/2008 @ 12:45am

22. I'd like to point out that, according to the video images, the candlelight peace sign initiative took place in Budapest [Hero's Square - you can see the Millennium Monument in the background], not Prague.

    Posted by drlivingston at 02/21/2008 @ 07:23am

23. It is a symbol that at that time did not reflect a desire for peace, but a political opinion regarding peace - with the lack of peace being blamed on the U.S. and the way to achieve peace being surrender and capitulation to our enemies.

    Posted by SJCHERMAK 02/20/2008 @ 6:47pm

    Was that the universal understanding of the symbol at that time or just a smaller segment of folks using the symbol? I ask because I haven't heard this explained in this way so I'm wondering if it was an isolated group of folks who adopted the peace symbol for their own cause. Sort of like how some of the wacko Christians use the cross as their symbol even though most Christians totally disagree with their behaviors or causes (Fred Phelps comes to mind).

    Posted by FritztheCat at 02/21/2008 @ 08:47am

24. Hello FRITZTHECAT

    As for the peace symbol, it was not any universal understanding about it.

    It is my "take" or viewpoint on it. I am the only person I know or have seen that has described it that way.

    I believe my "take" on it is correct, since when one looks back on the majority of those (not everybody, but most) who opposed the Vietnam War, they did so from the viewpoint of the political left, and the viewpoint then is exactly the same as the viewpoint today.

    This "viewpoint" is that America (or the people running America at the time as well as now) are the ones who are wrong, that the war occurred because of wrongs by the American leaders, the real wrongs done by the Communists and the intent and goals of Communism were overlooked (as is the case today with Saddam before and the terrorists now), and the solution is to walk away from the war.

    This is the kind of "peace" that the peace activists promoted. I am careful to say that opposition to the Vietnam War was not 100% by the Jane Fondas of the world, but the majority of people opposing the war (along with use of the peace symbol) were of that mindset.

    This is my own logic and my own opinion and my own argument on the subject. As you can see, I have defended it rather well, thus as they say, this is my opinion and I am sticking to it.

    Take care

    Posted by sjchermak at 02/21/2008 @ 10:00am

25. The history of the "peace" symbol goes back a lot farther than 1958...try about 2000 years...

    St. Peter was to be crucified for refusing to deny Christ and worship Ceaser and his last request was to crucified like Jesus and so was crucifiedEXECUTED on an upside broken cross... Christs followers all went underground and were persecuted...Roman occupyers started using the symbol of the upsidedown broken cross as a mark to identify and harrass and show authority over discovered Christian Sanctuaries...the symbol was picked up and spread across Europe as a symbol showing opposition to the new religion of Christianity...when persecutions would occur the symbol would also become popular.... Opposition to Christianity has many faces and symbols...the Occult of Western Europe used the upside-down broken cross for centuries... with a rebirth in the occult foundations of the German Socialist Workers Party ie the NAZI's. The Symbol was used in various forms and usages in the military.... wonder why...

    The cooption of the symbol by bitter antiChristian activist Bertrand Russell for the Aldermaston Rallies was not a coincidence... as the paganization of the "peace" movement was already in place and in gear - to further the long term and global scheme of one world.

    Oblivious hippies and peaceniks waving around an ancient sympol of hatred toward Christianity...what better way to promote the oneworld and onereligion agenda..... all in the name of peace and tolerance...

    like the peace and tolerance in China following 1949 and Vietnam following 1975...

    the above information is available in any history book of the occult and antiChristianity.....

    Posted by ChrisBieber at 02/21/2008 @ 1:40pm