1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Loring bog obam here. If you have a 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,159 Speaker 1: can of spray paint and a giant rock face to 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: paint on, and you need to tell a group of 5 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: people half a mile away that you come in peace, 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: how would you get the message across? You could paint 7 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: in all of branch or a origami crane of white 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: poppy or fingers making a V sign, But there's an 9 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: easier way draw circle bisect it with a vertical line 10 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: and two lines pointing down at a forty five degree 11 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: angle from that line, like two drooping arms, and Wala 12 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: message delivered. The peace sign is one of the most 13 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: recognized symbols in the modern world, and it's relatively short history. 14 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: It's become ubiquitous. It's on pajamas, jewelry, frisbees, in the 15 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: floor mats of cars. But it has also been used 16 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: as an emblem of a variety of uniquely twentieth century 17 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: cultural and political movements, from the hippies to women's rights, 18 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: to environmental protection to the end of South africa kind apartheid. 19 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: But it was created for a very specific movement, nuclear disarmament. 20 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: The peace symbol We Know and Love Today was created 21 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: by Gerald Holtum, a British artist and activist who was 22 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: a conscientious objector during World War Two. During the late 23 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, some people in England were concerned about what 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 1: they called the Big Bomb, the weapon that had seen 25 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: dropped on two Japanese cities during World War Two, effectively 26 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: ending the war but killing hundreds of thousands of civilians 27 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: in the process. But by night three countries, the United States, 28 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union and England had begun to stockpile nuclear weapons. 29 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: The Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, a group of 30 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: pacifists and let's face it, people who were concerned about 31 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: a future in which one nation state could destroy another 32 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: by dropping a handful of bombs, organized a march from 33 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: London to a facility where nuclear material was produced fifty 34 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: two miles away that's about eighty three kilometers. Holton created 35 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: a logo for the event, a circle circumscribing to characters 36 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: from the flag semaphore alphabet, which is a type of 37 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: optical telegraph that's been used since the nineteenth century. The 38 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: two characters are n for nuclear, which has both flags 39 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: at the signal ER's side at forty five degree angles 40 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: and D for disarmament, which is a straight vertical line 41 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: with both flags pointing straight up. Holtem's goal was for 42 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: the symbol to be bold, simple, easily reproduced, and easily 43 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: recognized even on the grainy black and white television sets 44 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: of the day. And because he wanted his work to 45 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: do whatever the nfties version of going viral was, he'd 46 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: never copyrighted it and hoped it would take off. And 47 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: boy did it ever. We spoke with Ken Calls, been 48 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: author of Peace the Biography of a Symbol, which was 49 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: published in two thousand eight on the fiftieth anniversary of 50 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: the symbol. He explained that as the Vietnam War was 51 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: beginning in the early nineteen sixties, the symbol was adopted 52 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: as an anti war symbol, and because Holtem internationally made 53 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: it free for anyone to use, it was passed out 54 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: on buttons on college campuses throughout the war and adopted 55 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: by the hippie movement as a symbol of nineteen sixties 56 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: youth subculture. Colsben said the early anti war people were 57 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: not hippies so much as pacifists. Worried about the growing 58 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: fatalities in the Vietnam War, it morphed from a symbol 59 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,239 Speaker 1: that stood for nuclear disarmament to one that stood for peace. 60 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: Gerald Holton died and, according to Colsben, who corresponded with 61 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: him during the nineteen seventies, Holton asked that his tombstone 62 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: depict the peace symbol he created, only with a twist. 63 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: Colsben explained on his tombstone he wanted the symbol inverted. 64 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: In other words, instead of drooping arms, he wanted the 65 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: arms of his peace symbol to be pointed upward. In 66 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,839 Speaker 1: his mind, this symbolized the tree of life. In symbology, 67 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: when a symbol points downward, that means someone has died, 68 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: so I think later in life he realized he wanted 69 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: it to point up like the tree of life where 70 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: mankind lives. Unfortunately, Holton's revised peace symbol didn't make it 71 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: onto his tombstone, but the first iteration of a work 72 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: has certainly made an impression on the world. Of course, 73 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: symbols are slippery. There have been plenty of emblems for 74 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: one idea or system of thought that have had their 75 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: meaning hijacked and changed by a political faction. For instance, 76 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: the swastika is an ancient symbol that's been used in 77 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: many parts of the world, from Scandinavia to India to 78 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: the America's and the meaning is pretty wholesome and virtually 79 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: all cases, with the one very notable exception. In various traditions, 80 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: it was a symbol for divinity, good fortune, the sun, 81 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: well being. In rebirth. To the Buddhists, the swastika symbolized 82 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: the footprints of the Buddha. Of course, in the twenties 83 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: and thirties it was adopted by Nazi Germany as its 84 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: national symbol. As a result, when you see the swastica 85 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: these days, it brings up very different feelings than it 86 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 1: did for the thousands of years of human history that 87 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: came before it. Calls been said, the p symbol stands 88 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: for the rights of many groups of people. It's a 89 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: remarkable symbol. We always have to stay alert to political 90 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: factions picking up the symbol and changing the meaning. That 91 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: would be very unfortunate. M Today's episode was written by 92 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: Jesselin Shield and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is 93 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: a production of I Heeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For 94 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: more in this and lots of other powerful topics is 95 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff Works dot Com and for 96 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 97 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.