No Nukes Cow

Illustration of a black and white cow with a white cloud above with black text in it on a blue background

This button may have been worn by anti-nuclear protesters following the Three Miles Island meltdown, which killed many cows. This nuclear meltdown occurred on March 28, 1979, in Pennsylvania, United States. It was considered the worst accident in U.S. nuclear power plant history. After the meltdown, an estimated 65,000 people attended a march and rally against nuclear power. For months more would join the rallies and march all across the country. The cow on the button represents the cows that were poisoned and killed due to the meltdown.  

The button was designed by Carter Wentworth and was originally created for the Greenfield, Massachusetts group Alternative Energy Committee of Franklin County in 1976. According to Donnelly/Colt it was one of the most popular buttons of the anti-nuclear movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s.