1960s Peace Symbol
The beginnings of well-known ‘Peace Symbol’ had its beginnings in 1958 by an anti-nuclear arms activist named Gerald Holtom, who was with the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the United Kingdom. Holtom overlapped two symbols and surrounded them with a circle. The symbols were for ‘N’ – an inverted V shape and ‘D’ – a vertical line. Together with the ‘N.D.’ represented ‘nuclear disarmament’, a big world concern since 1945 with the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagaski in Japan. Many marches were held in England with people carrying the new ‘Peace Symbol’ designed by Holtom.
The 1950s were a time of bomb shelters and drills in case of a nuclear attack. That fear increased in October 1962 with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
During the 1960s the symbol became part of the counter-cultural of many young people (including on college campuses) wanting peace in the world. Same for the show of two fingers held up for peace. That gesture of the two fingers goes back to World War 2 and those calling for victory in the war. The finger gesture moved into the 1960s with protestors wanting peace and joined the peace symbol.
So if you or a relative has a ‘Peace Symbol’ on a skirt, a flag, piece of jewelry, or a sign, it became popular in the 1960s but had its beginnings in 1958. Another interesting piece of your family history.
Photo: 1960s peace symbol and 1958 original.
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Popular Fads of our 1960s Ancestors
< Return To Blog Very interesting! I never knew!Sara N Martin 11/04/22
It is interesting to know.
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