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{{short description|1941 State of the Union goals}}
{{About| Franklin D. Roosevelt's themes|other uses|Four Freedoms (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|For Freedoms}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
[[File:Four-Freedoms-OWI-composite-poster-1943.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''[[Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)|Four Freedoms]]'', a series of 1943 paintings by [[Norman Rockwell]] honoring [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s Four Freedoms, meant to describe the freedoms for which allied nations fought in World War II.]][[File:FDR Memorial wall.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Engraving of the Four Freedoms at the [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
The '''Four Freedoms''' were goals articulated by [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] on Monday, January 6, 1941.  In an address known as the [[s:The Four Freedoms speech|Four Freedoms speech]] (technically the '''1941 State of the Union address'''), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:

# [[Freedom of speech|Freedom of speech and expression]]
# [[Freedom of worship]]
# [[Freedom from want]]
# [[Freedom from fear]]

Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the surprise Japanese attack on [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], which caused the United States to declare war on Japan on December 8, 1941. The [[State of the Union]] speech before Congress was largely about the [[national security of the United States]] and the threat to other democracies from [[World War II|world war]]. In the speech, he made a break with the long-held tradition of [[United States non-interventionism]]. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare, especially Great Britain and China.

In that context, he summarized the values of democracy behind the bipartisan consensus on international involvement that existed at the time. A famous quote from the speech prefaces those values: "As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone." 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". The first two freedoms, of speech and [[Freedom of religion|religion]], are protected by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] in the [[United States Constitution]]. His inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional Constitutional values protected by the [[United States Bill of Rights|U.S. Bill of Rights]]. Roosevelt endorsed a broader human [[Rights|right]] to [[Right to an adequate standard of living|economic security]] and anticipated what would become known decades later as the "[[human security]]" [[paradigm]] in studies of  [[economic development]]. He also included the "[[freedom from fear]]" against international aggression, calling for a "world-wide reduction of armaments."<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Rhetoric: Franklin D. Roosevelt -- "The Four Freedoms" |url=https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrthefourfreedoms.htm |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=www.americanrhetoric.com}}</ref>

==Historical context==
In the 1930s many Americans, arguing that the involvement in [[World War I]] had been a mistake, were adamantly against continued intervention in European affairs.<ref name="Bodnar, John 2010">Bodnar, John, The "Good War" in American Memory (Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 11.</ref> With the [[Neutrality Acts of the 1930s|Neutrality Acts]] established after 1935, U.S. law banned the sale of armaments to countries that were at war and placed restrictions on travel with belligerent vessels.<ref>Kennedy, David M., Freedom From Fear: the American people in depression and war, 1929–1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 393–94.</ref>

When [[World War II]] began in September 1939, the neutrality laws were still in effect and ensured that no substantial support could be given to Britain and France. With the revision of the Neutrality Act in 1939, Roosevelt adopted a "methods-short-of-war policy" whereby supplies and armaments could be given to European Allies, provided no declaration of war could be made and no troops committed.<ref>Kennedy, David M., Freedom From Fear: the American people in depression and war, 1929–1945 (1999) 427–434.</ref> By December 1940, Europe was largely at the mercy of [[Adolf Hitler]] and Germany's [[Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]]. With Germany's defeat of France in June 1940, Britain and its overseas Empire stood alone against the military alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Winston Churchill, as Prime Minister of Britain, called for Roosevelt and the United States to supply them with armaments in order to continue with the war effort.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

The [[1939 New York World's Fair]] had celebrated Four Freedoms – religion, speech, press, and assembly – and commissioned [[Leo Friedlander]] to create sculptures representing them. [[Mayor of New York City]] [[Fiorello La Guardia]] described the resulting statues as the "heart of the fair". 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7FD0Qfub9MC&q=%22norman+rockwell%22+%22freedom+of+speech%22+%22four+freedoms%22+%22Saturday+Evening+Post%22&pg=PP71|title=Liberty's Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly|author=Inazu, John D.|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|isbn=978-0300173154|year=2012}}</ref>

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.

==Declarations==
{{listen
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|filename=FDR's 1941 State of the Union (Four Freedoms speech) Edit 1.ogg
|description =[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s January 6, 1941 [[State of the Union address]] introducing the theme of the Four Freedoms (starting at 32:02)
|image=[[File:FDR in 1933.jpg|alt=Franklin Delano Roosevelt headshot|60px]]
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The Four Freedoms Speech was given on January 6, 1941. Roosevelt's hope was to provide a rationale for why the United States should abandon the isolationist policies that emerged from World War I.  In the address, Roosevelt critiqued Isolationism, saying: "No realistic American can expect from a dictator's peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion–or even good business. Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. 'Those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.'"<ref name="speech">{{cite web|url=https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/fdr-the-four-freedoms-speech-text/ |title=FDR, "The Four Freedoms," Speech Text &#124; |publisher=Voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu |date=January 6, 1941 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref>

The speech coincided with the introduction of the Lend-Lease Act, which promoted Roosevelt's plan to become the "arsenal of democracy"<ref>The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (New York: Random House and Harper and Brothers, 1940) 633–44.</ref>  and support the Allies (mainly the British) with much-needed supplies.<ref>, Kennedy, David M., Freedom From Fear: the American people in depression and war, 1929–1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 469.</ref> Furthermore, the speech established what would become the ideological basis for America's involvement in World War II,  all framed in terms of individual rights and liberties that are the hallmark of American politics.<ref name="Bodnar, John 2010"/>

The speech delivered by President Roosevelt incorporated the following text, known as the "Four Freedoms":<ref name="speech"/>

{{Blockquote|
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.
|Franklin D. Roosevelt, excerpted from the State of the Union Address to the Congress, January 6, 1941<ref>See [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-message-congress-the-state-the-union online copy from the University of California at Santa Barbara]</ref>
}}
[[File:Four Freedoms Flag or United Nations Honour Flag ca 1943-1948.svg|thumb|220px|The Four Freedoms flag or "[[United Nations Honor Flag]]" {{circa}} 1943–1948]]
Later in the same speech the president went on to specify six basic goals:<ref>Engel, p. 7.</ref>
* Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
* Jobs for those who can work.
* Security for those who need it.
* The ending of special privilege for the few.
* The preservation of civil liberties for all.
* The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

==Justification for war==
The declaration of the Four Freedoms as a justification for war would resonate through the remainder of the war, and for decades longer as a frame of remembrance.<ref name="Bodnar, John 2010"/> The Freedoms became the staple of America's war aims and the center of all attempts to rally public support for the war. With the creation of the Office of War Information (1942), as well as the [[Four Freedoms (Rockwell)|famous paintings]] by [[Norman Rockwell]], the Freedoms were advertised as values central to American life and examples of American exceptionalism.<ref>Bodnar, John, ''The "Good War" in American Memory'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010) 12.</ref>

==Opposition==

The Four Freedoms Speech was popular, and the goals were influential in postwar politics. However, in 1941 the speech received heavy criticism from anti-war elements.<ref>David M. Kennedy, '' Freedom From Fear: the American people in depression and war, 1929–1945'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 470–76</ref> Critics argued that the Four Freedoms were simply a charter for Roosevelt's [[New Deal]], social reforms that had already created sharp divisions within Congress. Conservatives who opposed social programs and increased government intervention argued against Roosevelt's attempt to justify and depict the war as necessary for the defense of lofty goals.<ref>John Bodnar, ''The "Good War" in American Memory'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 14–15.</ref>

While the Freedoms did become a forceful aspect of American thought on the war, they were never the exclusive justification for the war. Polls and surveys conducted by the [[United States Office of War Information]] (OWI) revealed that self-defense and vengeance for the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] were still the most prevalent reasons for war.<ref>Bodnar, ''The "Good War" in American Memory'' p. 14.</ref>

==United Nations==
The concept of the Four Freedoms became part of the personal mission undertaken by [[First Lady of the United States|former First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] in 1948. She helped inspire the [[United Nations Declaration of Human Rights]], General Assembly Resolution 217A. Indeed, these Four Freedoms were explicitly incorporated into the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads: "''Whereas'' disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy the freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed the highest aspiration of the common people."<ref>{{cite book|author1=White, E.B. |author2=Lerner, Max |author3=Cowley, Malcolm |author4=Niebuhr, Reinhold |title= The United Nations Fight for the Four Freedoms|url=https://archive.org/details/TheUnitedNationsFightForTheFourFreedoms_728 |asin=B003HKRK80|location = Washington, D.C.|publisher= Government Printing Office|date= 1942 }}</ref>

==Disarmament==
FDR called for "a world-wide reduction of armaments" as a goal for "the future days, which we seek to make secure" but one that was "attainable in our own time and generation." More immediately, though, he called for a massive build-up of U.S. arms production:

{{blockquote|Every realist knows that the democratic way of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the world&nbsp;... The need of the moment is that our actions and our policy should be devoted primarily—almost exclusively—to meeting this foreign peril.&nbsp;... [T]he immediate need is a swift and driving increase in our armament production.&nbsp;... I also ask this Congress for authority and for funds sufficient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations which are now in actual war with aggressor nations. 
|Franklin D. Roosevelt<ref>{{cite Wikisource |title=Four Freedoms speech |wslink=The Four Freedoms speech |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin Delano |year=1941}}</ref>
}}

==Violation==

In a 1942 radio address, President Roosevelt declared the Four Freedoms embodied "rights of men of every creed and every race, wherever they live."<ref>Eric Foner, ''The Story of American Freedom'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998) p. 223.</ref>  On February 19, 1942, he authorized [[Japanese American internment]] with [[Executive Order 9066]]. It allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", from which "any or all persons may be excluded". This power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and much of Oregon, Washington, and Arizona, except for those in internment camps.<ref name=korematsu_roberts>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=323&page=214 ''Korematsu v. the United States''] dissent by Justice [[Owen Josephus Roberts]], reproduced at findlaw.com. Retrieved September 12, 2006.</ref> By 1946, the United States had incarcerated 120,000 individuals of Japanese descent, of whom about 80,000 had been born in the United States.<ref>Park, Yoosun, Facilitating Injustice: Tracing the Role of Social Workers in the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans. (Social Service Review 82.3, 2008) 448.</ref>

==Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park==
{{main article|Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park}}
The [[Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park]] is a park designed by the architect [[Louis Kahn]] for the south point of [[Roosevelt Island]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.fdrfourfreedomspark.org/pages/about-the-park | title=About the Park | publisher=Four Freedoms Park Conservancy | access-date=July 23, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727123911/http://www.fdrfourfreedomspark.org/pages/about-the-park | archive-date=July 27, 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The park celebrates the famous speech, and text from the speech is inscribed on a granite wall in the final design of the park.

==Awards==
{{main article|Four Freedoms Award}}
The [[Roosevelt Institute]]<ref name = "Institute">{{citation | url = http://www.feri.org/ | author = Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute|title=Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute}}</ref> honors outstanding individuals who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to these ideals.  The [[Four Freedoms Award]] medals are awarded at ceremonies at [[Hyde Park, New York]] and [[Middelburg, Zeeland|Middelburg]], [[Netherlands]] during alternate years.  The awards were first presented in 1982 on the centenary of President Roosevelt's birth as well as the bicentenary of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands.

Among the laureates have been:
<!--PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER-->
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[William J. Brennan Jr.|William Brennan]]
* H.M. [[Juan Carlos]] of [[Spain]]
* [[Jimmy Carter]]
* [[Bill Clinton]]
* The [[Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]]
* [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]
* [[Averell Harriman]]
* [[Václav Havel]]
* H.R.H. [[Princess Juliana]] of the [[Netherlands]]
* [[John F. Kennedy]]
* [[Mike Mansfield]]
* [[Paul Newman]]
* [[Tip O'Neill]]
* [[Shimon Peres]]
* [[Coretta Scott King]]
* [[Brent Scowcroft]]
* [[Harry S. Truman]]
* [[Liv Ullmann]]
* [[Elie Wiesel]]
* [[Joanne Woodward]]
{{div col end}}

==In popular culture==
* John Crowley's novel ''[[Four Freedoms (novel)|Four Freedoms]]'' (2009) is largely based on the themes of Roosevelt's speech.
*FDR commissioned sculptor [[Walter Russell]] to design a monument to be dedicated to the first hero of the war. The ''[[Four Freedoms Monument]]'' was created in 1941 and dedicated at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]], in New York City, in 1943.
* Artist [[Kindred McLeary]] painted ''America the Mighty'' (1941), also known as ''Defense of Human Freedoms'', in the State Department's [[Harry S. Truman Building]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digitaledition.state.gov/publication/?i=48062&p=22 |title=Forgotten Treasure |last=Vo |first=Tuan |work=[[State Magazine]] |date=October 2010 |pages=20–23 |access-date=June 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033849/http://digitaledition.state.gov/publication/?i=48062&p=22 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Artist [[Hugo Ballin]] painted ''The Four Freedoms'' mural (1942) in the Council Chamber of the City Hall of [[Burbank, California]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burbankca.gov/about-us/burbank-history/burbank-city-hall/city-council-chamber-murals |title=City Council Chamber & Murals |access-date=June 1, 2014 |archive-date=October 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029172227/https://www.burbankca.gov/about-us/burbank-history/burbank-city-hall/city-council-chamber-murals |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* New Jersey muralist [[Michael Lenson]] (1903–1972) painted ''The Four Freedoms'' mural (1943) for the Fourteenth Street School in [[Newark, New Jersey]].<ref name = "Lenson">{{cite web | url = http://www.michaellenson.org/murals.html | title = Official Website of Michael Lenson – WPA Muralist and Realist Painter |access-date=June 1, 2014 }}</ref>
* Muralist [[Anton Refregier]] painted the [[History of San Francisco (Refregier murals)|''History of San Francisco'']] murals (completed 1948) in the [[Rincon Center]] in [[San Francisco]], California; panel 27 depicts the four freedoms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfmuralarts.com/mural/638.html |title=War and Peace (1948) |publisher= SF Mural Arts |access-date=June 1, 2014}}</ref>
* Artist [[Mildred Wolfe|Mildred Nungester Wolfe]] painted a four-panel ''Four Freedoms'' mural (complete 1959) depicting the four freedoms for a country store in [[Richton, Mississippi]]. Those panels now hang in the [[Mississippi Museum of Art]].<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/2014/05/19/freedom-panels/9300193/ |title=Richton mural donated to Miss. Museum of Art |last=Lucas | first =Sherry|newspaper= Hattiesburg American |date=May 21, 2014 |access-date=June 1, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Allyn Cox]] painted four ''Four Freedoms'' murals (completed 1982) that hang in the Great Experiment Hall in the [[United States House of Representatives]]; each of the four panels depicts allegorical figures representing the four freedoms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uschs.org/exhibit/exhibit-allyn-cox-murals/uschs_allyn-cox.htm |title=The American Story in Art: The Murals of Allyn Cox in the U.S. Capitol |publisher= The United States Capitol Historical Society |access-date=June 1, 2014}}</ref>
* Since 1986, the fictional [[Four Freedoms Plaza]] has served as the headquarters for [[Marvel Comics]] superhero team [[Fantastic Four]].<ref>{{Cite comic|writer=[[Roger Stern|Stern, Roger]]|penciller=[[John Buscema|Buscema, John]]|inker=[[Sal Buscema|Buscema, Sal]]|colorist=[[Glynis Oliver|Oliver, Glynis]]|letterer=[[John Workman|Workman, John]]|editor=Daley, Don|story=The Best Man|title=[[Fantastic Four]]|volume=1|issue=299|date=February 1987|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]|location=[[New York, NY]]|page=10|panel=1|id=}}</ref>
* In the early 1990s, artist David McDonald reproduced Rockwell's ''Four Freedoms'' paintings as four large murals on the side of an old grocery building in downtown [[Silverton, Oregon]].<ref name = "Silverton">{{cite web | url = http://www.silvertonor.com/murals/ | title = Silverton Mural Society }}</ref>
* In 2008, [[Florida International University]]'s [[Wolfsonian]] museum hosted the ''Thoughts on Democracy'' exhibition that displayed posters created by 60 leading contemporary artists and designers, invited to create a new graphic design inspired by American illustrator Norman Rockwell's ''Four Freedoms'' posters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teenthoughtsondemocracy.wolfsonian.org/teachers/thoughts-on-democracy?page=1|title=Thoughts on Democracy|website=Wolfsonian FIU|date=2008|access-date=May 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305052136/http://teenthoughtsondemocracy.wolfsonian.org/teachers/thoughts-on-democracy?page=1|archive-date=March 5, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Four Freedoms is the adopted title of a [[Well drink|bottom-shelf]] [[bourbon whiskey]] brand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Four Freedoms Whiskey |url=https://www.gotoliquorstore.com/p/four-freedoms-blended-whiskey/60731 |website=GoToLiquorStore |access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref>

==Norman Rockwell's paintings==
{{main article|Four Freedoms (Rockwell){{!}}''Four Freedoms'' (Rockwell)}}
Roosevelt's speech inspired a set of four paintings by [[Norman Rockwell]].

===Paintings===
The members of the set, known collectively as ''[[Four Freedoms (Rockwell)|The Four Freedoms]]'', were published in four consecutive issues of ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]''.<ref>On February 20, 1943; February 27, 1943; March 6, 1943; and March 13, 1943.</ref> The four paintings subsequently were displayed around the US by the [[United States Department of the Treasury]].
<gallery widths="200px" heights="250px">
File:"Freedom of Speech" - NARA - 513536.jpg|''[[Freedom of Speech (painting)|Freedom of Speech]]'' (Saturday, February 20, 1943) – from the ''[[Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)|Four Freedoms]]'' series by [[Norman Rockwell]] 
File:"Freedom of Worship" - NARA - 513537.jpg|''[[Freedom of Worship (painting)|Freedom of Worship]]'' (Saturday, February 27, 1943) – from the ''Four Freedoms'' series by Norman Rockwell 
File:"Freedom From Want" - NARA - 513539.jpg|''[[Freedom from Want (painting)|Freedom from Want]]'' (Saturday, March 6, 1943) – from the ''Four Freedoms'' series by Norman Rockwell 
File:"Freedom from Fear" - NARA - 513538.jpg|''[[Freedom from Fear (painting)|Freedom from Fear]]'' (Saturday, March 13, 1943) – from the ''Four Freedoms'' series by Norman Rockwell 
</gallery>

===Essays===
Each painting was published with a matching [[essay]] on that particular "Freedom":<ref>Perry, P. (2009a), [http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/01/01/art-entertainment/norman-rockwell-art-entertainment/rockwells-four-freedoms.html "Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms"], ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January/February 2009; Perry, P. (2009b). [http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/01/05/in-the-magazine/rockwells-four-freedoms-2.html "Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms"], ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January/February 2009.</ref>
* ''Freedom of Speech'', by [[Booth Tarkington]] (February 20, 1943).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/12/21/in-the-magazine/booth-tarkingtons-freedom-speech.html| title = Booth Tarkington's 'Freedom of Speech', ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January/February 2009.| date = December 21, 2017}}</ref>
* ''Freedom of Worship'', by [[Will Durant]] (February 27, 1943).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/12/21/in-the-magazine/will-durants-freedom-worship.html| title = Will Durant's 'Freedom of Worship', ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January/February 2009.| date = December 21, 2017}}</ref>
* ''Freedom from Want'', by [[Carlos Bulosan]] (March 6, 1943).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/12/21/in-the-magazine/carlos-bulosans-freedom-want.html| title = Carlos Bulosan's 'Freedom from Want', ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January/February 2009.| date = December 21, 2017}}</ref>
* ''Freedom from Fear'', by [[Stephen Vincent Benét]] (March 13, 1943; the date of Benét's death).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/12/21/in-the-magazine/stephen-vincent-benets-freedom-fear.html| title = Stephen Vincent Benét's 'Freedom from Fear', ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January/February 2009.| date = December 21, 2017}}</ref>

===Postage stamps===
Rockwell's ''Four Freedoms'' paintings were reproduced as [[postage stamp]]s by the [[United States Post Office]] in 1943,<ref name = "Scott 908">{{cite web | url = http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2028719 | title = Scott Catalog souvenir sheet of four stamps | issue = 908}}</ref> in 1946,<ref name = "Scott 933">{{cite web | url = http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=147585 | title = Scott Catalog souvenir sheet of four stamps | issue = 933}}</ref> and in 1994,<ref name = "Scott 2840">{{cite web | url = http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=4&cmd=2&eid=183&slide=12 | title = Scott Catalog souvenir sheet of four stamps | issue = 2840 | access-date = November 23, 2010 | archive-date = July 23, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110723124608/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=4&cmd=2&eid=183&slide=12 | url-status = dead }}</ref> the centenary of Rockwell's birth.

==See also==
* [[Four boxes of liberty]]
* [[European Single Market|Four Freedoms (European Union)]]
* ''[[Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945]]'', a Pulitzer-winning history of the era.
* [[Liberalism in the United States]]
* [[Second Bill of Rights]], proposed by FDR in his 1944 State of the Union Address
* [[The Free Software Definition]] is often called "the four freedoms" within the [[free software community]] in reference to the speech and fundamental principles.
* [[World War II Victory Medal (United States)]], which includes the Four Freedoms on its reverse.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Borgwardt, Elizabeth. "FDR's Four Freedoms as a Human Rights Instrument." ''OAH Magazine of History'' 22.2 (2008): 8–13. [https://academic.oup.com/maghis/article-abstract/22/2/8/967562 extract]
* Crowell, Laura. "The building of the 'four freedoms' speech." ''Communications Monographs'' 22.5 (1955): 266–283.
* De Zayas, Alfred. "The Relevance of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Today." 62 ''Nordic Journal of International Law'' 61 (1992): 239+.
* Dunn, Susan, ''A Blueprint for War: FDR and the Hundred Days That Mobilized America'' (2018) pp. 73–101.
* Engel, Jeffrey A., ed. ''The four freedoms: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the evolution of an American idea'' (Oxford University Press, 2015); argues that Roosevelt's speech left a deep imprint in America, but the society largely failed to achieve his vision of freedom, p.&nbsp;7. [https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12349 online review]
* Gutierrez, Robert. "The Four Freedoms Viewed in Comparison to Traditional American Political Ideals." ''Counterpoints,'' vol. 271, 2007, pp.&nbsp;33–40. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/42979033 online]
* Inazu, John D. "The Four Freedoms and the Future of Religious Liberty." ''North Carolina Law Review'' 92 (2013): 787+ [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C27&q=four+freedoms+roosevelt&btnG=#d=gs_cit&t=1674542136186&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3AKQLI4BGy77MJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D8%26hl%3Den online].
* Johnstone, Andrew. ''Against Immediate Evil: American Internationalists and the Four Freedoms on the Eve of World War II'' (Cornell University Press, 2015).
* Kaye, Harvey J. ''The fight for four freedoms: what made FDR and the greatest generation truly great'' (Simon and Schuster, 2014); 8 essays by scholars. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TT9vAAAAQBAJ&dq=four+freedoms+roosevelt&pg=PA1 online]
* Posneer, Michael H. "The Four Freedoms Turn 70: Embracing an Integrated Approach to Human&nbsp;Rights." ''Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law)'' vol. 105, 2011, pp. 27–31. [https://doi.org/10.5305/procannmeetasil.105.0027 online]
* Rhodes, Jesse H. "The Evolution of Roosevelt's Rhetorical Legacy: Presidential Rhetoric about Rights in Domestic and Foreign Affairs, 1933–2011." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 43.3 (2013): 562–591. [https://www.academia.edu/download/34689108/Rhodes.2013.PSQ.pdf online]
* Shulman, Mark R. "The four freedoms: Good neighbors make good law and good policy in a time of insecurity." ''Fordham Law Review'' 77 (2008): 555–581 [https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4389&context=flr  online].
* Wesley, Charles H., et al. "The Negro has Always Wanted The Four Freedoms." in ''What the Negro Wants,'' edited by Rayford W. Logan, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2001)  pp.&nbsp;90–112. [https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19m62cs.10 online]

===Rockwell's icons===
* Kimble, James J. "The illustrated four freedoms: FDR, Rockwell, and the margins of the rhetorical presidency." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 45.1 (2015): 46–69.
* Lynch III, Sylvio. ''Morality and Aspiration: Some Conditions of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms'' (PhD Diss. Bowling Green State University, 2020) [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=5%2C27&sciodt=0%2C27&cites=13226409173930962162&scipsc=1&q=four&btnG=#d=gs_cit&t=1674538692333&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3A3qWWU7Ze5HsJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D1%26hl%3Den online]
* Murray, Stuart, James McCabe, and John Frohnmayer. ''Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms: Images that Inspire a Nation'' (Berkshire House, 1993) [https://www.academia.edu/download/64306953/A-Four%20Freedoms%20McCabe.pdf online].
* Olson, Lester G. "Portraits in praise of a people: A rhetorical analysis of Norman Rockwell's icons in Franklin D. Roosevelt's “four freedoms” campaign." ''Quarterly Journal of Speech'' 69.1 (1983): 15–24.

==External links==
{{wikisource|The Four Freedoms speech}}
{{commons category}}
{{Library resources box}}
* [https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/fdrs-four-freedoms-speech-freedom-fireside "Four Freedoms"] Lesson plan for grades 9–12 from National Endowment for the Humanities
* [https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrthefourfreedoms.htm As a delivered text, enhanced audio, video excerpt] at AmericanRhetoric.com.
* [http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/fdr-the-four-freedoms-speech-text/ Text and audio].
* [http://fdr4freedoms.org "FDR4Freedoms Digital Resource"] The digital education resource of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
* [http://fdrfourfreedomspark.org "Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnrZUHcpoNA 1941 Four Freedoms Speech (via YouTube)]

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[[Category:Four Freedoms| ]]
[[Category:1941 in politics]]
[[Category:1941 in the United States]]
[[Category:1941 in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:1941 speeches]]
[[Category:77th United States Congress]]
[[Category:History of human rights]]
[[Category:Washington, D.C., in World War II]]
[[Category:Politics of World War II]]
[[Category:Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Speeches by Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:World War II speeches]]
[[Category:January 1941 in the United States]]
[[Category:1940s State of the Union addresses]]