On January 6th, 1941, Roosevelt gave a speech regarding his definition of freedom. In his speech, Roosevelt pushed America towards the war, away from neutrality. Roosevelt demonstrated that the European powers were struggling against the Germans and needed the help of the United States. He declared four freedoms to be essential to all humans: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
In his first freedom, Roosevelt believed that it was necessary for everyone to be able to advocate for their beliefs. Those ideas, Roosevelt thought, could not be suppressed by the government. For freedom to worship, Roosevelt deemed it necessary for any individual to be able to follow whatever religion that they believed in. He thought "every person should worship God in his own way." The third freedom, freedom from want, granted "healthy peacetime for its inhabitants" to all nations. Lastly, freedom from fear meant a "world-wide reduction of armaments," so that there could not be any physical aggression by a nation committed against its neighbors.
In his speech, Roosevelt repeated the words "everywhere/anywhere in the world" to demonstrate that the Four Freedoms were universal freedoms, not just privileges that should be granted to Americans. Since there was currently a war going on, Roosevelt believed that it was the job of the US to help stop German war efforts and foster peace throughout the world.
Roosevelt's Four Freedoms are still relevant even today. Throughout history, his freedoms were used as an effort to support rights to everyone. Eleanor Roosevelt had later used the Four Freedoms to advocate for the passing of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Other discriminated racial groups, such as the African-Americans, believed that their freedoms had been violated, and they argued to gain more rights. Even today, the Four Freedoms are not granted to everyone in the world.
Sources:
Voices of Freedom 143
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-d-roosevelt-speaks-of-four-freedoms
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-franklin-roosevelts-four-freedoms-are-still-relevant-today/
Great blog post Kevin! We have been hearing a lot about The Four Freedoms a lot in history but never about the speech it was given during. Great usage of quotes/evidence and I thought it was great how at the end you expanded on the idea and talked about Eleanor Roosevelt and how she used the Four Freedoms later to advocate for the united nations universal declaration of human rights in 1948. Fun fact: In New York there is even a Four Freedoms Park in honor of Roosevelt to celebrate his address.
ReplyDelete