A circle enclosing a triple-forked set of lines is universally recognised as the peace symbol. The triple forked set of lines are meant to represent an ‘individual in despair’ with his arms outstretched. Initially synonymous with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), it was first brought to public attention on the Easter weekend of 1958, during a march from London to Aldermaston, in Berkshire, the site of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. The demonstration was the first large-scale anti-nuclear march of its kind. It was organised by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC), one of the several smaller groups in the UK that would go on to form the CND.

Designed by Gerald Holtom, the symbol showed the semaphore for the letters N (both flags held down and angled out from the body) and D (one flag pointing up, the other pointing down), standing for Nuclear Disarmament. 

Bayard Rustin, a close associate of Martin Luther King, took the symbol back to the United States where it was used during Civil Rights marches, ant-Vietnam War demonstrations, and on helmets worn by American military. The symbol immediately gained popularity as it was simpler to draw than the Picasso peace dove used then. It became known around the US and then the world as the ‘peace symbol’. It began appearing in protests and demonstrations around the globe – on the walls of Prague when the Soviet tanks invaded in 1968, on the Berlin Wall, on the graves of the victims of military dictators, and most recently, in East Timor.  

There have been claims that the symbol has occult/anti-Christian associations. Various far-right and fundamentalist American groups believe that the symbol has Satanic associations and have condemned it as a Communist sign. However, the ideas behind the symbol have been clearly described, both in letters and in interviews, by Gerald Holtom. His original sketches of the peace symbol are now on display as part of the Commonwealth Collection in Bradford.

By mid-1960s, the peace symbol had become the symbol of the counter-culture movement. The first documented use of the peace sign by the counter-culture occurred in the 1966 novel ‘Hearts in Atlantis’ by Stephen King. The book featured a character whose jacket had the peace symbol on the back (Miles, 123).

The peace sign, piggy-backing on the fame of the novel, quickly became the hippie community’s identifying visual feature. Worn on clothing, necklaces, and signed by hands, the peace symbol became a dominant representation for their ideas of communalism, freedom, and personal growth. The use of psychedelic drugs and colors during the counterculture movement of the 1960’s led to the first major change in the peace sign’s representation. No longer was the peace sign a black and white image as designed by Holtom. The design took on any color and design imaginable, to represent the views of this new community.  

Peace out.