The “peace sign” was originally the symbol of the (U.K.) Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

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.

Peace Symbol Created (1958); 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.

But in 1958, British artist Gerald Holtom drew a circle with three lines inside, intending the design to be a symbol for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC).  The design incorporates a circle with the lines within it representing the simplified positions of two semaphore letters (the system of using flags to send information great distances, such as from ship to ship). The letters “N” and “D” were used to represent “nuclear disarmament.” (The “N” is formed by a person holding a flag in each hand and then pointing them toward the ground at a 45 degree angle. The “D” is formed by holding one flag straight down and one straight up.)

Holtom finished his design on February 21, 1958 and the design was then first introduced to the public at a DAC march on April 4. The symbol quickly spread. In Britain, the symbol became the emblem for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), thus causing the design to become synonymous with nuclear disarmament.

In 1960, the symbol migrated to the United States and began to be used as a symbol for the Peace Movement.

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Now for “the rest of the story” as it were…..

The design for the familiar crow’s-foot-in-a-circle we know as the peace symbol was completed February 21, 1958, by British commercial artist Gerald Holtom.

Holtom had been commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The CND, headed by philosopher Bertrand Russell, was planning an Easter march to Canterbury Cathedral to protest the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.

After doodling around with several versions of the Christian cross set in a circle, Holtom hit on the crow’s-foot idea. This had a couple things going for it.

First, it was a combination of the semaphore signals for N and D, standing for Nuclear Disarmament. N is two flags held in an upside-down V, and D is one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down.

Second, the crow’s-foot has an ancient history as a symbol of death and despair–it looks like somebody spreading his hands in a gesture of defeat. The symbol is shown in a 1955 tome called The Book of Signs by Rudolph Koch, a German calligrapher, although it’s unclear whether Holtom saw it there.

The circle, finally, can mean “eternity,” “the unborn child,” and so on. From this you can no doubt cook up a suitably apocalyptic interpretation of the symbol as a whole.

During the heyday of the peace movement, other interpretations of the symbol were also offered. A national Republican newsletter noted that it looked a lot like an emblem used by the Nazis during World War II–an apparent coincidence.

Another interpretation, widely promoted by the John Birch Society and other right-wing groups, was that the symbol was really the “broken cross,” sign of the Antichrist.

One Bircher wrote that the broken cross had originally been devised by the Roman emperor Nero, who had Saint Peter crucified upon it upside down.   And even in the Middle Ages the symbol allegedly was used to signify the devil.

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