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.

1. “
. . . W E LO O K F O RWA R D TO
A WORLD FOUNDED UPON
FOUR E S S E N T I A L
HUMAN F R E E D O M S.
THE FIRST IS F R E E D O M
SPEECH
OF
AND
E 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 HE SECOND IS F R E E D O M
O F E V E RY P E R S O N
TO
WO R S H I P G O D I N
H I S O W N WAY — E V E RY W H E R E
I N T H E W O R L D.
THE THIRD IS F R E E D O M
FROM
WA N T
. . . E V E RY W H E R E I N T H E W O R L D.
T HE FOURTH IS F R E E D O M
FROM
FEAR
...ANYWHERE
I N T H E W O R L D.
f r a n k l i n d . r o o s e v e lt
6th january
1941

2. 4
FREEDOMS
The speech that moved America
In 1941, tyranny gripped much
of the world. Fascist Italy had annexed
Ethiopia. Japan had invaded China. Nazi
Germany had conquered Norway, Denmark,
Holland, Belgium and France and stood poised to invade
Great 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.
“ ust as our national policy in
J
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
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.
Embassy of the United States of America
U N I T E D S TA T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F S TA T E
B 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
photo: fdr presidential library