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From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Need Peace Symbol origin source
Date: 15 Dec 1995 00:41:17 GMT

Eber <eber@qualcomm.com> writes:
-Saw a few posts recently indicating that the peace symbol was -derived from semaphore signals for CND or ND anyway (Nuclear -Disarmament). Can anyone cite sources? I've found no reference -to CND (Campaign for...). Signifcant organizations of that era -were SANE and CSNVA working to ban the bomb. Dont have the -Cecil Adams book (More Straight Dope) with this in it. Does he -cite sources?

Here's an old post from that notorious hawk, Bruce Tindall, that ought to help you fold, spindle, and mutilate your enemies (in a peaceful manner of course).

Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc,alt.pagan,alt.folklore.urban
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: Peace Symbol
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 15:01:19 GMT

Sorry to inject some more references, but here are three, all of which state that the "peace" (actually, nuclear disarmament) symbol is based on the semaphore for "N" and "D", and some of which give some additional symbolism (e.g. the circle represents the womb or the world or eternity) but none of which contradicts the "N-D" semaphore symbolism:

Louise Barry, "Origins of the Peace Symbol: A Signal from Life" in _The Christian Century_, vol 89, p. 1128 (1972). This article, in a liberal, pro-peace-movement Christian magazine, refuted the claims of fundamentalists and others that the symbol had unsavory (satanic, pagan, Nazi, etc.) connections.

John Minnion and Philip Bolsover, _The C.N.D. Story_, 1983. I don't have the publisher's name but it was a British firm; the book can be found in many libraries.

Article "Early defectors in march to Aldermaston," _The Manchester Guardian_ newspaper. I don't have the exact date, but it was during or just after Easter weekend, 1958. The article was a report on the peace march at which the N-D symbol was first used.

Terry "Holy War" Chan