The history of the PEACE SIGN

The Peace Sign is a Semaphore symbol created in the late 50's for The CND.

To me the circle stands for Eternal

The line up and down stands for N (nuclear)

And the line that goes from the bottom left to the center and down to the bottom right Stands for D (disarmament).

Buy putting them together, moving and shaping them a little, you get the modern day Peace Sign.

Eternal Nuclear Disarmament.

Just as a side note this is what the first peace signs looked like.
It was changed to what we know it as today. (see examples below)

---------------here is an e-mail I received ---------3-15-03------

Herb Greer wrote an literal piece "Mud Pie" (London: Parrish, 1964) which mentions an original sources from the CND:
"On a purple square was superimposed a white circle with a purple cross inside it, or almost a cross. The arms had slipped and were drooping against the lower sides of the circle. Holtom had made the design by combining the semaphore letters N and D: N for nuclear and D, naturally, for disarmament." (P. 30) Holtom was a commercial artist with, it seems, a "visual aid factory". Greer says he put his factory in Twickenham to making "lollipop signs" marked with the droopy cross. In a recent correspondence through email he added, "I was actually there on and before the first Aldermaston March for which it was created. I visited Holtom, I saw the original sketches and discussed it with him. The reason for the symbol being upside down (D over N) is that semaphore is a military code. Upside down, anti-military." For a much later account by a famous march organizer who witnessed Holtom's presentation, see Michael Randle, "Non-Violent Direct Action in the 1950s and 1960s", in Richard Taylor and Nigel Young, "Campaigns for Peace: British Peace Movements in the Twentieth Century" (Manchester: Manchester U. Press, 1987), p. 134. The symbol was to appear at either end of banners stretching from one side of a street full of marchers to the other."

The following paragraphs were taken from a page done by
Steve Kramer, 29-MAY-1996

The symbol consists of the semaphore letters "N" and "D" (for "nuclear disarmament") inside a circle. The original colors were, as shown in the image above, white on black. According to The CND Story by John Minnion and Philip Bolsover (1983), Holtom and other CND artists pointed out other symbolism in the flag as well: the semaphores together, without the circle, look like a stick figure with its arms outstretched -- "the gesture of a human being in despair"; the circle represents the womb or unborn generations, as well as the world; and the color black represents eternity.

Bruce Tindall, 29-MAY-1996

Another, presumably 'unofficial', explanation is that it is the cross of Christ with the arms drooping in despair. The symbol is also, in fact, the Death Rune of the Futhark runic alphabet. Whether this is an intentional similarity or not, CND supporters, particularly 'Christian' ones, used to get very uppity when this was pointed out!

Stuart A. Notholt, 30-MAY-1996

The "peace sign" was originally the symbol of the (U.K.) Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). It was designed by Gerald Holtom in 1958. The frequently-repeated but mistaken belief that it was designed by Bertrand Russell probably stems from the fact that Russell was the president of the CND at the time.

The first public use of the symbol was on flags and placards during the 1958 Aldermaston march (in England). It was described in Manchester Guardian articles covering the march.

Bruce Tindall, 28-MAY-1996

The peace symbol has a convoluted and confusing history. It's most notable appearance in modern times was its first use by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) at their Aldermaston march in 1956. The CND meaning of the symbol is semaphore for 'N' (the two diagonal lines) and 'D' (the two vertical lines). About ten years later, the symbol was adopted as a general peace sign within the student anti-war movement. It became probably the single best known symbol of the youth culture of the sixties. The CND was partly based on traditional churches, and I think they were also conscious of mixing two historic Christian symbols:

• The outer circle, designates EARTH (waste and void, Gen 1:2).
• The inner design, the "witches/crows feet", designate "GOD reaches down" (with gift of salvation, John 3:16).

With the appropriation of the symbol by the peace movement in the sixties, non-traditional and fundamentalist Christians (who apparently knew nothing of Christian symbols) placed a satanic meaning on it, calling it the Witch's Foot, or Crow's Foot (and sometimes Chicken's Foot), or Broken Cross. In the 1980s, the symbol was further appropriated (at least in the U.S.) to represent environmentalism. In this sense, it is rendered as a blue and green imitation of the U.S. flag, with the peace symbol replacing the stars in the canton.

T.F. Mills, 9-OCT-1996

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And yet another story that I found at

http://www.peaceday.org/pcsign.htm

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The Peace Symbol

Have you ever wondered where the peace symbol came from? I know I have heard many stories about it being an anti religious, a Nazi, or a death symbol. Well let me put this all to rest. I am sure when you find out what it actually is you will be surprised!!

It seems the Peace symbol surfaced on letters from the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War in its original form as early as March 1958. Bertrand Russell was a member of this committee and through his writings has left us with an unmistakable history of when, where and who created the Peace Sign. Here are quotes from letters Bertrand Russell wrote in response to H. Pickles from Lichthort Verlag who wrote to complain that the peace symbol was a death symbol because the arms pointed downwards. Russell's reply: ``I am afraid that I cannot follow your argument that the ND badge is a death-symbol. It was invented by a member of our movement as the badge of the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War, for the first Aldermaston March. It was designed from the naval code of semaphore, and the symbol represents the code letters for ND. To the best of my knowledge, the Navy does not employ signalers who work upside down.''

So there you have it, the Navy code of semaphore is the flag signaling system. The letters


D


N

Surprised??? Well it does make sense in a way.
But who created the symbol and why?? Read
on,...

"Gerald Holtom [sic] is in fact widely credited with the design of the nuclear disarmament symbol (aka the peace symbol). The earliest reference I could find is in American journalist and playwright Herb Greer's _Mud Pie_ (London: Parrish, 1964). A little before the first Aldermaston march at Easter 1958, Holtom showed up at the offices of _Peace News_ in London with drawings for banners and the symbol: "On a purple square was superimposed a white circle with a purple cross inside it, or almost a cross. The arms had slipped and were drooping against the lower sides of the circle. Holtom had made the design by combining the semaphore letters N and D: N for nuclear and D, naturally, for disarmament." (P. 30) Holtom was a commercial artist with, it seems, a "visual aid factory". Greer says he put his factory in Twickenham to making "lollipop signs" marked with the droopy cross. In a recent correspondence through email he added, "I was actually there on and before the first Aldermaston March for which it was created. I visited Holtom, I saw the original sketches and discussed it with him. The reason for the symbol being upside down (D over N) is that semaphore is a military code. Upside down, anti-military." For a much later account by a famous march organizer who witnessed Holtom's presentation, see Michael Randle, "Non-Violent Direct Action in the 1950s and 1960s", in Richard Taylor and Nigel Young, _Campaigns for Peace: British Peace Movements in the Twentieth Century_ (Manchester: Manchester U. Press, 1987), p. 134. The symbol was to appear at either end of banners stretching from one side of a street full of marchers to the other."

Now you may say is there anything else you can tell us about the Peace Sign?? Of course!!

"From a design point of view, it is interesting to note that the original sketches are preserved at the School of Peace Studies, Bradford University (ibid., p. 159). The original symbol wasn't just sticks in a thinly bounded circle. The ends of the "arms" and "legs" thicken and splay out noticeably as they approach the circumference. And the circle itself is thick -- when it has an outer edge. (Thus there are at least 2 designs.) You can see the original symbol on the banners and "lollipops" of the marchers in plates in another book by Taylor, _The Protest Makers_ (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980). The thickening itself has two versions: in one, all the straight strokes are thickened; in the other, only those in the lower half of the circle. Both are amply represented here in literature preserved by Bertrand Russell from his days at the head of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Committee of 100. Some are eminently scannable, too. The original designs are much nicer than what might be termed the sanserif abstraction that took over the banners by 1961."

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So there you have it !

I thank the Bertrand Russell archives for
supplying the quotations.

Copied from - http://www.peaceday.org/pcsign.htm

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and yet more 

Copied from -
 http://www.rosella.apana.org.au/~mlb/cranes/symbols.htm

This page contains background information on some of the symbols used throughout the ages to represent peace and goodwill. 

The peace sign or victory salute is made by holding the index and middle fingers in the shape of a V. 

This sign is said to have begun in Europe during World War II  when the 
V for victory (victoire in French, vrijheid in Dutch) sign was painted on walls in the dark as a symbol of freedom from occupying forces. 

It was also used as a sound, with the dot-dot-dot-dash (di-di-di-dah) of Morse code.  Coincidentally this sounds a lot like the opening bars of Beethoven's Symphony No.5 (and the Roman numeral for 5 is V!). 
As a result  these bars were (along with the Morse code signal) broadcast by the BBC constantly during the war and became known as 'Fate knocking at the door'. 

The victory sign was described as 'the most amazing piece of propaganda devised in this war'. 

It became immortalized when Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill was repeatedly filmed using the sign as a victory salute. 

The sign was very widely used by peace movements in the 1960's and 70's as a symbol of victory for peace and truth. 

......and much much more.....

copied from - 
http://www.rosella.apana.org.au/~mlb/cranes/symbols.htm

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Well here are the peace signs I have to date.
This page has the small ones.
Click on of the links below to get to the other ones.

This collection of graphics is intended to help you to develop your own page or site to promote peace. 

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