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S P E E C H

WO R S H I P

WA N T

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. . . W E LO O K F O RWA R D TO

A W O R L D F O U N D E D U P O N

FOUR E S S E N T I A L

H U M A N F R E E D O M S .T H E F I R S T I S F R E E D O M

O F S P E E C H A N DE X P R E S S I O N — E V E RY W H E R E

I N T H E W O R L D.

T H E S E C O N D I S F R E E D O MO F E V E RY P E R S O N

T O WO R S H I P G O D I N

H I S OW N WAY — E V E RY W H E R EI N T H E W O R L D.

T H E T H I R D I S F R E E D O M

F R O M WA N T. . . E V E RY W H E R E I N T H E WO R L D.

T H E F O U R T H I S F R E E D O M

F R O M F E A R . . . A N Y W H E R E

I N T H E W O R L D.

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1 9 4 1f r a n k l i n d . r o o s ev e lt

FREEDOMS 4

p h o t o : f d r p r e s i d e n t i a l l i b r a r y U N I T E D S TAT E S D E PA R T M E N T O F S TAT EB U R E A U O F I N T E R N AT I O N A L I N F O R M AT I O N P R O G R A M S

Embassy of the United States of America

The speech that moved America

In 1941, tyranny gripped much of the world. Fascist Italy had annexed Ethiopia. Japan had invaded China. NaziGermany had conquered Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and France and stood poised to invadeGreat Britain. § U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had recently proposed sending aid to Great Britain, but knew many Americans felt strongly that their nation should stay out of the conflict. Roosevelt decided to explain to Americans and to all the peoples of the world why resisting aggression was necessary.

Roosevelt offered this vision to the U.S. Congress and the American people on January 6, 1941. The president described the threat to the United States and other democratic nations and enunciated a vision of a peaceful, secure, democratic world in which individuals would enjoy fundamental human rights. § President Roosevelt’s words became known as the “Four Freedoms” speech, for on that day FDR enunciated the rights which the nation would defend—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These, Roosevelt explained, were not just for Americans, but for all peoples. This was “no vision of a distant millennium,” he promised. “It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.” § Nations and peoples would look to Roosevelt’s four freedoms as they built the postwar world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and other instruments guaranteeing fundamental freedoms bear the imprint of Roosevelt’s speech. § Today, Americans continue to build the world Roosevelt envisioned, a world where people everywhere are free to speak and to pray, free from want and from fear.

“ Just as our national policy in internal affairs has been based upon a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all our fellow men, so our national policy in foreign affairs has been based on a decent respect for the rights and dignity of all nations, large and small.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt 6th January 1941