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                                                                     EXHIBIT 31a

Certification of Chief Executive Officer

Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Item 307 of
Regulation S-K

I, Zev Weiss, certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this report on Form 10-Q of American Greetings
      Corporation;

2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
      report; and

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
      American Greetings Corporation as of, and for the periods presented in
      this report;

4.    American Greetings Corporation's other certifying officers and I are
      responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
      procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for
      American Greetings Corporation and we have:

        a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to
            American Greetings Corporation, including its consolidated
            subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,
            particularly during the period in which this report is being
            prepared;

        b)  Evaluated the effectiveness of American Greetings Corporation's
            disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
            conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
            procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based
            on such evaluation; and

        c)  Disclosed in this report any change in American Greetings
            Corporation's internal control over financial reporting that
            occurred during the first quarter that has materially affected, or
            is reasonably likely to materially affect, American Greetings
            Corporation's internal control over financial reporting; and

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5.    American Greetings Corporation's other certifying officers and I have
      disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
      financial reporting, to American Greetings Corporation's auditors and the
      audit committee of American Greetings Corporation's board of directors:

        a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are
            reasonably likely to adversely affect American Greetings
            Corporation's ability to record, process, summarize and report
            financial information; and

        b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in American Greetings
            Corporation's internal controls over financial reporting.

July 9, 2004                               /s/ Zev Weiss
                                           --------------------------------
                                           Zev Weiss
                                           Chief Executive Officer