Still in use

The peace symbol, designed by commericial artist Gerald Holtom for a British nuclear disarmament campaign, is reportedly 50 years old this week. It was completed and first displayed on Feb. 21, 1958.

The symbol is taken from the semaphore signs for “N” and “D” but it has evolved over the years to a more generalized symbol for peace. The John Birch Society during the Vietnam era claimed the symbol was a “broken cross” which it said symbolized the devil. There have been other similarly fanciful versions of the symbols origin, but scholars have found no evidence for them.