The Peace Symbol A Biography of its Author Holger Christian Peterson Langmack 1884-1962The Peace Symbol! We have become familiar with this symbol and it’s association with anti-war rallies, anti-nuclear rallies, it’s decoration on clothing and buttons, painted on V.W. hippie busses and familiar places like Woodstock. Time Magazine ran an article a few years ago, reporting that some misguided religious group had identified it as an up-side-down cross and therefore a satanic symbol. Last week in the corsair (Santa Monica College’s Paper) there was a small article that said: “The Peace Symbol was first used in England in the 1950’s during anti-nuclear demonstrations†and in boot camp I heard a D.I. refer to it as: “The footprint of the American chickenâ€. Santa Monica College had a tribute to Peace, with the peace symbol prominently displayed, in the form of a monument in the courtyard across from the bookstore for almost twenty years. It was removed to make room for the remodeling in the past two years. The simplest definition I have seen was found in the Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, page 1636, under the subject of signs and symbols, misc were following a representation of symbol was simply the word ‘Peace’.The truth, however, lies in the past with the birth of Holger Peterson-Langmack in Copenhagen Denmark in 1884. As the son of Valdemar Peterson, a scientist at the Royal Danish Laboratories and a professor of science, twice knighted by the King, Mr. Langmack grew up surrounded by the academic environment of his pears. Mr. Langmack graduated from Polytechnic Institute in Copenhagen in mathematics in 1903 along with one of his classmates and lifetime friends, Niels Bohr, who received the Nobel Prize in physics, 1922, for his discoveries in Quantum Physics. These men along with others conspired with and built their theories on the work completed in 1905 by Albert Einstein, on the special theory of Relativity, for which he also received the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1911. This was to be the basis of Mr. Langmack’s lifetime work.In 1905 Mr. Langmack graduated from the State Military Academy at Kronborg. (Kronborg Castle was the setting for Shakespeare’s play Hamlet) After his service to the King, Mr. Langmack retired as a captain from the Royal Danish Calvary.In 1908 he was knighted by the King and given credit for starting the Danish Boy Scouts, which was the first outside of England. His troop received their first uniforms and scout manuals directly from Lord Batan-Powell, who founded Boy Scouts in England, 1907.After his military service he entered State Teachers College at Skaarup, Denmark. He graduated in 1910 as a teacher in physics and 1912 found Mr. Langmack as a judge and part of the selection committee for the Danish Olympic Gymnastic team for the 1912 Olympics. It was here that he met his lifetime partner Ida, who was a member of the Danish team and a silver medalist. In December of 1912 they were married and then immigrated to the United States.Once in the United States Mr. Langmack taught Math and Physics at Stewart Jr. High School in Minnesota. In 1919 they moved east and he was Professor at New Jersey State Teachers College and studied at Columbia. He taught at the army camp in Plattsburg, NY; at Cornell University; Temple University; Savage College, NY; Columbia University and NYU and was appointed to the United States Navel Academy in Annapolis, MN. In 1928 he began his tenure with the Washington D.C. public schools where he remained until his retirement in 1954. Mr. Langmack studied at the Washington School of Psychiatry in 1945-1946 and received a Masters in Education from the University of Maryland in 1953. During his career Mr. Langmack wrote on and applied his theories of character development which he developed through his theories of mathematical relativity which united in a field theory; science, philosophy and religion.The basis of his work evolved out of the conflict between science and religion. But to understand this we must go back to the 1700’s. After the French Revolution the Vatican was deprived of their power in France with the separation of church and state. That influence was also lost in Denmark when the King took the land of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church became the state religion. Over the years that followed the power of the church declined and the education system taught Darwin’s theories of evolution as the fundamental truth. By the time Mr. Langmack was born, his father, a great scientist, had accepted Darwin’s principals along with much of the population. Mr. Langmack’s wife, Ida, however had a simple faith in God, which set him on a lifetime study of Biblical principals, which he did through his logical mathematical background. His theories of Mathematical Relativity were then combined into principals, which could be applied in the education system.In them the world, in an ideal situation, would unit, under God, in love, Liberty and Justice. He added these words to the pledge of the flag in his classroom sometime after 1928. Later when it was pointed out that this was not the official pledge he went to President Franklin Roosevelt. These words were added officially to the pledge in an act of congress and signed into law by President Eisenhower.What has become known as the peace symbol was originally conceived through this work. The original was made into a flag somewhere between 1928 and 1945. It represented an ideal educational system starting with the (1.) TRUE CHILDHOOD; “Justice for allâ€, which would be taught in an ideal Elementary School. (2.) TRUE ADOLESCENCE; “Liberty and Justice for allâ€, taught as an ideal Democracy in an ideal Jr. High School. (3.) TRUE YOUTH; “Love, Liberty and Justice for all†taught as ideal friendship in an ideal High School. And (4.) TRUE ADULTS; “One Nation under God Indivisible with Love, Liberty and Justice for allâ€, taught as an ideal Brotherhood in an ideal College of Life.With the failure of the League of Nations after WWII the nations of the world began to put together a new organizations to solve the world’s problems. The flag conceived by Mr. Langmack was put forth as a proposed flag for the newly forming United Nations, sponsored by an Educational World Brotherhood. The United Nations was founded on October 24th 1947 and although the proposed flag was not used by the United Nations, its graphic symbol has come to represent ‘Peace’ in a unique way that; “I’m sure would surprise its authorâ€.In addition to a distinguished teaching career Mr. Langmack coached the famous Johnny Weismiller who won four gold medals at the 1932 Olympics, and wrote a book on football conditioning with the introduction written by Knute Rockney of Notre Dame, who was also an immigrant from Norway.Mr. Langmack passed away on March 18th 1962 at Plainfield, Maryland.Presented in a speech class at Santa Monica Collage by Grandson: Robert Griffin; Approx 1972Notes: 1. One will notice that the flag with Mr. Langmack's Peace Symbol has a strong resemblance to the flag of Denmark. It is obvious to me that was a starting influence.2. Some relatives who stayed in Denmark have told that Mr. Langmack and Ida did not just immigrate to America but were sent to America by my Great-Grandfather because Ida was pregnant. No one knows the truth but its possible that's how we became Americans.3. Holger Christian Peterson took his wife's last name of Langmack after they were married because Peterson is a very common name in Denmark thus became Holger Christian Langmack.4. The definition of the name Langmack could be translated as land-mark. Ida's family had lived in the region where Denmark and Germany have a common border and it is my interpretation that the family said this is where we draw a line and claim to be Danish and not German.