The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941. Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the surprise Japanese attack on U.S. forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that caused the United States to declare war on Japan. In the speech, he made a break with the long-held tradition of United States non-interventionism.
About Four Freedoms in brief
The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941. Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the surprise Japanese attack on U.S. forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that caused the United States to declare war on Japan. In the speech, he made a break with the long-held tradition of United States non-interventionism. In that context, he summarized the values of democracy behind the bipartisan consensus on international involvement that existed at the time. The speech established what would become the ideological basis for America’s involvement in World War II, framed in all terms of individual rights and liberties that are the hallmark of American politics. The first two freedoms, of speech and religion, are protected by the First Amendment in the U. S. Constitution. They also appeared on the reverse of the AM-lira, the Allied Military Currency note issue that was issued in Italy during WWII, by the Americans, that was in effect occupation currency, guaranteed by the American dollar. The following text, incorporated in the following speech, is the following text: In the future we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon the four essential freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom from fear, and freedom of the press.
The speech was delivered by President Roosevelt before Congress in Washington, D.C. and was delivered in front of the Joint Session of Congress in January 1941. It was the first time a president had used the term ‘Four Freedoms’ to refer to a group of human rights that should be protected by all people, not just those who were born into it. The 1939 New York World’s Fair had celebrated Four Freedom – religion, speech, press, and assembly – and commissioned Leo Friedlander to create sculptures representing them. Later Roosevelt would declare his own \”Four Essential Freedoms\” and call on Walter Russell to create a Four freedoms Monument that was eventually dedicated at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the second half of the speech he lists the benefits of democracy, which include economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of \”adequate health care\”. He also included the \”freedom from fear\” against national aggression and took it to the new UN he was setting up.
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This page is based on the article Four Freedoms published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 10, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
