"Make love, not war" is an anti-war slogan commonly associated with the American counterculture of the 1960s. It was used primarily by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War, but has been invoked in other anti-war contexts since, around the world. The "Make love" part of the slogan often referred to the practice of free love that was growing among the American youth who denounced marriage as a tool for those who supported war and favored the traditional capitalist culture.Emma Goldman:People & Events: Free Love PBS.org, Accessed February 3, 2014
Origin Several people claimed to be the inventor of the phrase, including Gershon Legman,Dudar, H., "Love and death (and schmutz): G. Legman's second thoughts," Village Voice, May 1, 1984, pp. 41-43.Scott, Janny: "Gershon Legman, Anthologist of Erotic Humor, Is Dead at 81 ", The New York Times, March 14, 1999. URL last accessed May 1, 2014. Rod McKuen,McKuen, R. : Flight Plan March 14, 2005 . URL last accessed May 1, 2014. radical activists Penelope and Franklin Rosemont and Tor Faegre,Rosemont, Penelope. Dreams and Everyday Life: A Sixties Notebook. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 2008:40-41. and Diane Newell Meyer, a senior at the University of Oregon in 1965, but the earliest uses in print appear to have been in anti-war protests in Berkeley, California earlier in 1965 than the April and May uses cited by Penelope Rosemont and Diane Newell Meyer. Articles mentioning signs and bumper stickers with the phrase were reported in the Daily Californian in February and the Oakland Tribune in March. Barbara Smoker claimed to have financed the manufacture of the first "Make Love, Not War" badges. This quote is also attributed to Herbert Marcuse, a German philosopher who emigrated to the United States in the thirties and was an outspoken war critic.
In popular culture
The slogan was featured in two 1973 songs: John Lennon's "Mind Games" and Bob Marley's "No More Trouble" (first released on the album Catch a Fire). In the 1989 film Field of Dreams, the slogan is erroneously credited to the fictional writer Terence Mann, played by James Earl Jones. The character of 'Pop', in the 2002 futuristic Queen musical play We Will Rock You, shouts "Make love, not war!" as he is brainwashed at the start of the show, which leads into the stage performance of "Radio Ga Ga". In the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame, Stan Lee appears in his cameo driving past Camp Lehigh, shouting "Make love, not war!" to the army soldiers before driving away.
See also
Abrazos, no balazos Breasts Not Bombs Counterculture Mike Love Not War Peace movement Vietnam War
References