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                                                                   EXHIBIT (31)a

                    Certification of Chief Executive Officer
            Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Zev Weiss, certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K 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;

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)) and
      internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act
      Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for American Greetings Corporation and
      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)    Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                  caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                  designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                  assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                  the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
                  in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

            c)    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

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

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

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      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 control 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 control over financial
                  reporting.

May 11, 2005                                /s/ Zev Weiss
                                            ----------------------------
                                            Zev Weiss
                                            Chief Executive Officer
                                            (principal executive officer)