The symbol is a superposition of the semaphore signals for the letters 'N' and 'D', taken to stand for 'nuclear disarmament', while simultaneously acting as a reference to Goya's The Third of May 1808 (1814) (aka 'Peasant Before the Firing Squad'). In the 1950s the 'peace sign', as it is known today (also known as 'peace and love'), was designed by Gerald Holtom as the logo for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), a group at the forefront of the peace movement in the UK, and adopted by anti-war and counterculture activists in the US and elsewhere. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a Dove lithograph by Pablo Picasso after World War II.
The symbol designed for the British nuclear disarmament movement in 1958 is now widely known as the 'peace sign'.Ī number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. For other uses, see Peace Sign (disambiguation).
