Hello, and welcome back to This Week in History! Humanity loves symbols and icons. Just think about what’s on your phone screen right now — lots of bright, bold and eye-catching app logos are sitting there awaiting your attention 24/7.
Although they’re not carried in a pocket like today, history has had a plethora of icons spanning pretty much every historical period. But one symbol alone stands out in the modern era for its rapid rise to ubiquity. It’s a sign of peace, and it’s made up of two simple letters.
Our story begins with the grief — or perhaps frustrations — of artist Gerald Holtom. Holtom was not only an artist, but also a skilled designer who graduated from the Royal College of Art in the United Kingdom.
As a conscientious objector during World War II, Holtom lived a life that was committed to deterring, or at least protesting, any war that broke out. Indeed, Holtom’s life was punctuated by wars, as he was born in 1914, just a few months before the outbreak of World War I. After the end of WWII, the world didn’t warm up to peace. In fact, it cooled down, with Soviet-Allied relations essentially freezing.
Amidst the backdrop of a looming conflict was an increasing presence of bombs that if detonated, would indiscriminately kill millions across the globe. Holtom, like many, was not merely frightened by this new post-war reality, but deeply grieved by the thought.
This despair soon spilled out onto the streets — literally — as the U.K.’s Committee for Direct Action Against Nuclear War (DAC) rallied and assembled a protest. The DAC hosted a march from London to Aldermaston, a town home to a nuclear research facility. This 52-mile march, however, needed something to rally behind.
What symbol conveys an anti-nuclear warfare sentiment? Perhaps one could use the Red Cross iconology, but that could be interpreted as some sort of medical march. And to use the flag of the United Nations, well, that would just be foolish. The UN was — and is — dominated by nuclear powers.
Holtom was tasked with designing anything that could capture the essence of the protest. He began his task while remaining in that deep despair that surrounded the movement.
Nuclear weapons kill millions, so what can a single human do but die when faced with a warhead? Well, perhaps they would be devastated and worried.
Holtom noted in letters how his design process began. “I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad.”
This despair, although terrible, prompted Holtom to bring together elements of design philosophy from across history and styles.
Holtom refers to “El Tres de Mayo” by Francisco Goya, a painting that shows a Spanish man in the sights of a French firing squad. The French soldiers face away from the frame, which is set moments before they pull the trigger. In that instance, standing amongst the bloody bodies of his countrymen, the Spanish man stands with arms outstretched.
This was the catalyst for Holtom’s design. He wanted to capture the futility of existence that all humanity must face at the expense of their ability to destroy everything and everyone at any moment.
With inspiration in mind, Holtom set out to construct a new interpretation of his feelings of despair, submission and worry.
He kept it simple. Using semaphore, the method of waving flags to represent letters of the alphabet — you may have seen this portrayed in 19th-century naval operations — Holtom took the letter N, shown by two flags, or like Goya’s painting, arms reaching downwards. He added to it the letter D, represented by one outstretched arm upwards.
The symbol he created was revealed this week in history to the DAC on Feb. 22, 1958. It soon spread to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and became known as the Nuclear Disarmament logo.
Despite its rapid and widespread use, Holtom perhaps got one key concept wrong. Despite the terror in his eyes, the Spanish man painted by Goya actually has his arms reaching out upwards. In his final moments, the man yearns for life, raising outstretched arms despite it all.
Despite being designed out of despair, Holtom’s symbol incorporated hope by design.
From the DAC march, to protest movements in the United States, Holtom’s peace sign has likely been on the bumper of a car in front of you while you’re driving down the highway. Maybe you’ve seen it spray-painted or printed on posters. It has become a universal symbol, and you could likely argue that it is the most pervasive symbol in the modern era.
Holtom passed in 1985, but his symbol endures. Dare I say, this symbol has given humanity the confidence to combat its despair. So, let us go forward in hope, knowing that if we face destruction, at the very least, our hearts yearn for peace.