Four Freedoms in United States
President Franklin Roosevelt’s Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress (1941)
This speech delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, became known as his “Four Freedoms Speech,” due to a short closing portion describing the President’s vision in which the American ideals of individual liberties were extended throughout the world.
Very early in his political career, as state senator and later as Governor of New York, President Roosevelt was concerned with human rights in the broadest sense. During 1940, stimulated by a press conference in which he discussed long-range peace objectives, he started collecting ideas for a speech about various rights and freedoms. In his Annual Message to Congress of January 6, 1941, he asked the people to work hard to produce armaments for the democracies of Europe, to pay higher taxes, and to make other sacrifices. Also, in memorable phrases, he envisioned a better future, founded upon four freedoms: the “four essential human freedoms,” some traditional and some new ones. The four freedoms he outlined were freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. As America became engaged in World War II, painter Norman Rockwell did a series of paintings illustrating the four freedoms as international war goals that went beyond just defeating the Axis powers. The paintings went on a national tour to raise money for the war effort. After the war, the four freedoms appeared again imbedded in the Charter of the United Nations.
Source: The People’s Vote, National Archives of the United States.
Introduction to Four Freedoms
Four Freedoms, human rights principals formulated by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, in his annual message to the Congress of the United States. President Roosevelt made his “Four Freedoms” speech almost a year before the United States entered World War II (1939-1945). In his address Roosevelt envisioned a postwar world in which four freedoms would be guaranteed: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In a world society based on these principles, he said, no nation would be able to commit aggressions. War and tyranny would be replaced by the friendly cooperation of free countries. Roosevelt also stated that the United States should help democratic governments fighting in the war, and he asked Congress to send ships, planes, tanks, and arms to those nations. Much of the spirit of the “Four Freedoms” was later expressed in the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration of principles made on August 14, 1941, by Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Four Freedoms in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia