January is the month for presidential oratory. In January 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered both inaugural and State of the Union addresses. America was pulling itself from a decade of economic depression and was sobered by looming war on two oceans. President Roosevelt’s State of the Union address to Congress that year is remembered for his “Four Freedoms.‿
Those were bleak days. Mr. Roosevelt said, “at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today.‿ He did not, however, call for the suspension of Constitutional rights. Quoting another Franklin (Benjamin), he said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.‿
Mr. Roosevelt did not call for tax cuts for the rich in the face of war. He said, “We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American eagle in order to feather their own nests.‿ He called for “The end of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all.‿
He did not call for pre-emptive invasions and occupations. He said, “We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people’s freedom.‿ Although American soldiers and industrial strength had tipped the First World War in favor of the Allies, Mr. Roosevelt did not boast. “ In times like these it is immature — and, incidentally, untrue — for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world,‿ he said.
His modesty regarding America’s strength was based on the understanding that no nation – however strong it may appear – can prevail against the forward momentum of civilization. Mr. Roosevelt said, “Just as our national policy in internal affairs has been based upon a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all of our fellow men within our gates, so our national policy in foreign affairs has been based on a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all nations, large and small. And the justice of morality must and will win in the end.‿
Toward the end of the address, Franklin Roosevelt articulated his “Four Freedoms‿ – principles that would guide Americans through the greatest test of the 20th century.
“In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression –everywhere in the world.
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
“The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
“The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor –anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called ‘new order’ of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
“To that new order we oppose the greater conception –the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear. Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.‿
Four Freedoms
January is the month for presidential oratory. In January 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered both inaugural and State of the Union addresses. America was pulling itself from a decade of economic depression and was sobered by looming war on two oceans. President Roosevelt’s State of the Union address to Congress that year is remembered for his “Four Freedoms.‿
Those were bleak days. Mr. Roosevelt said, “at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today.‿ He did not, however, call for the suspension of Constitutional rights. Quoting another Franklin (Benjamin), he said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.‿
Mr. Roosevelt did not call for tax cuts for the rich in the face of war. He said, “We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American eagle in order to feather their own nests.‿ He called for “The end of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all.‿
He did not call for pre-emptive invasions and occupations. He said, “We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people’s freedom.‿ Although American soldiers and industrial strength had tipped the First World War in favor of the Allies, Mr. Roosevelt did not boast. “ In times like these it is immature — and, incidentally, untrue — for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world,‿ he said.
His modesty regarding America’s strength was based on the understanding that no nation – however strong it may appear – can prevail against the forward momentum of civilization. Mr. Roosevelt said, “Just as our national policy in internal affairs has been based upon a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all of our fellow men within our gates, so our national policy in foreign affairs has been based on a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all nations, large and small. And the justice of morality must and will win in the end.‿
Toward the end of the address, Franklin Roosevelt articulated his “Four Freedoms‿ – principles that would guide Americans through the greatest test of the 20th century.
“In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression –everywhere in the world.
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
“The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
“The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor –anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called ‘new order’ of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
“To that new order we oppose the greater conception –the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear. Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.‿
Would that we could hear such a speech today.
© Mark Floegel, 2005
The complete text of FDR’s “Four Freedoms‿ address:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16092