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 religionor 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."[6]

The speech coincided with the introduction of the Lend-

Lease Bill, which promoted Roosevelt's plan to become
the "arsenal of democracy"[7] and support the Allies
(mainly the British) with much-needed supplies.[8]
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.[2]

The speech delivered by President

Roosevelt incorporated the following text,
known as the "Four Freedoms":

"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

expressioneverywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to

worship God in his own wayeverywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from wantwhich, translated into world terms, means economic
understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its
inhabitantseverywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fearwhich, 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
neighboranywhere 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

The four freedoms flag or "United Nations Honor Flag" ca. 19431948

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.[2] 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 famous paintings of Norman Rockwell, the Freedoms were
advertised as values central to American life and examples of American
exceptionalism.[9]

REPERTOIRE POSSIBILITIES

I. Speech

2. Worship
3. Want

4. Fear

Amber Waves
Appalachian Spring
Down a Country Lane
It is well with my soul.
Grovers Corners
Peterloo
Cadets 2014