CND Peace Symbol

The CND symbol is one of the most recognisable symbols in the world. In Britain it is closely associated with nuclear disarmament and, in particular, with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Internationally, however, it is more widely known as the universal peace symbol.

The symbol was designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional artist and designer who had studied at the Royal College of Art. A conscientious objector during the Second World War, Holtom spent the war years working on a farm in Norfolk. He explained that the design combined the semaphore signals for the letters N (Nuclear) and D (Disarmament).

Later, he described the inspiration behind the symbol in more personal terms:

“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. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle around it.”

The symbol made its first public appearance during the first major anti-nuclear protest march from London to Aldermaston over the Easter weekend of 1958. It quickly became the emblem of the nuclear disarmament movement and, in time, an enduring global symbol of peace.