On January 6, 1941, eleven months before the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented his annual message to Congress, the State of the Union. On the 11th page of this 12-page speech, the President noted the insecurity of the times, but spoke of the future and "four essential human freedoms."
With World War II underway in Europe and the Pacific, FDR asked the American people to work hard to produce armaments for the democracies of Europe, to pay higher taxes, and to make other wartime sacrifices. Roosevelt presented his reasons for American involvement, making the case for continued aid to Great Britain and greater production of war industries at home. In helping Britain, President Roosevelt stated, the United States was fighting for the universal freedoms that all people deserved.
At a time when Western Europe lay under Nazi domination, Roosevelt presented a vision in which the American ideals of individual liberties should be extended throughout the world. Alerting Congress and the nation to the necessity of war, Roosevelt articulated the ideological aims of the war, and appealed to Americans' most profound beliefs about freedom.
In his Four Freedoms Speech, Roosevelt proposed four fundamental freedoms that all people should have. His "four essential human freedoms" included some phrases already familiar to Americans from the Bill of Rights, as well as some new phrases: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These symbolized America's war aims and gave the American people a mantra to hold onto during the war.
As America became more engaged in World War II, painter Norman Rockwell created a series of paintings illustrating the four freedoms as international war goals that went beyond just defeating the Axis powers. In the series, he translated abstract concepts of freedom into four scenes of everyday American life. Although the federal government initially rejected Rockwell's offer to create paintings on the four freedoms theme, the images were publicly circulated when The Saturday Evening Post, one of the nation's most popular magazines, commissioned and reproduced the paintings. After winning public approval, the paintings served as the centerpiece of a massive U.S. war bond drive and went on a national tour to raise money for the war effort.
After the war, the four freedoms appeared again, embedded in the
Charter of the United Nations.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PPF: Papers as President, President's Personal File.
National Archives Identifier:
197361Full Citation: Franklin D. Roosevelt address to Congress; 1/6/1941; First Carbon Files; Speeches of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 - 1945; Collection FDR-PPF: Papers as President, President's Personal File; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/fdr-four-freedoms-speech, April 18, 2024]