Four freedoms

Audio of Roosevelt's State of the Union Address (the four freedoms from minute 32)

The Four Freedoms ( dt. "Four Freedoms") put US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 6. January 1941 in his State of the Nation before the Congress . They played a role both in the formation of an anti-Hitler coalition and in the later founding of the United Nations .

The four freedoms

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt

In the days to come, which we strive to keep safe, we look forward to a world founded on four essential human freedoms.

The first of these freedoms is speech and expression - anywhere in the world.

The second of these freedoms is that of every person to worship God in their own way - anywhere in the world.

The third of these freedoms is freedom from want. Seen worldwide, this means economic understanding that grants every nation healthy peace conditions for its inhabitants - all over the world.

But the fourth freedom is that of fear. Seen worldwide, this means global disarmament, carried out so thoroughly and until no state is in a position to attack its neighbors by force of arms - anywhere in the world.

Interpretations

The power of this speech probably resulted from its simplicity and handy formulation. In doing so, economic and liberal arguments were linked with one another, as they would soon appear in later documents.

According to common interpretations, the President wanted to create a context for the US population with this speech, since in the US there was hardly any willingness to go to war. a. found expression in the America First Committee movement . Eleven months after this speech came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and, as a result, the United States declared war .

reception

architecture

The American architect Louis I. Kahn designed the Four Freedoms Memorial on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island ( New York City ) in 1973 and 1974 , although it could only be realized between 2010 and 2012.

art

The speech-inspired painter Norman Rockwell created four paintings with which the Office of War Information toured the United States from 1943 and raised $ 130 million in war bonds .