Cecil is, based on the recorded facts, correct re’ the origin of this symbol (one of my sources is “The Power of the People; Active Nonviolence in the United States”, Robert Cooney & Helen Michalowski, 1987).
I only have one comment: his reference to the crow’s foot as long being a symbol of death and/or defeat and so being chosen to represent the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons is, I think, a bit of a reach.
The dove had, for an equally long if not longer time, been a symbol of peace, and had already been adopted/co-opted by the peace movement in the U.S.
The more likely intent behind any inclusion of the suggestion of a bird’s foot into the design was to suggest a dove, such as the one shown holding the olive branch of peace on the seal of the U.S., not a carion crow.
This is certainly the interpretation many began placing on the image almost immediately after its creation.
ETA, one of the best symbols ever created, btw, in terms of simplicity and embeded meaning, imo.
Correction…the dove does NOT appear on the U.S. seal…DUH! (The Eagle holds both arrows and olive branch, of course).:smack:
Forgive my momentary confusion/brain fart, but my error supports my case, in a weird sort of way; the dove has a long history in western and Judeo-Christian culture as a symbol of peace and/or Divine blessing. The association is fairly strong, much stronger, I think, than the association of crows with death and doom for most of our culture and of the time of the symbol’s creation.
In the Bible, for instance, the bird who came back bearing the olive branch/bit of vegetation when sent out by Noah, thus signaling the receding of the waters was termed a dove AND the bird represented as the messenger of God/bearer of the Holy Spirit which decended to/into Jesus upon his baptism was likewise a dove.