#Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech

[seashorepics]

6th January

Here are a few notable events that occurred on January 6th in history: Historical Events: Epiphany (Christian Tradition): January 6th is celebrated as Epiphany, also known as Three Kings’ Day, marking the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in Christian tradition. History of the Holidays: Jan 6, Epiphany 1066 – Coronation of Harold II of England: Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England.…

[filosofablogger]

Four Freedoms??? Hmmmmm ... 🤔

On January 6th, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his State of the Union Address.  This speech would come to be known as the Four Freedoms Speech, for he talked at some length about the four freedoms he believed that people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy: Freedom of speech Freedom of worship Freedom from want Freedom from fear Today, the Republican Party has its own set of…

[uwmspeccoll]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION

FREEDOM OF WORSHIP

FREEDOM FROM WANT

FREEDOM FROM FEAR

Milestone Monday

We remember January 6 as the date for the congressional certification of the presidential election and the peaceful transfer of power in the United States, but it is also infamously remembered for the violent storming of the Capitol Building in 2021 to prevent that certification. It is also the date in 1941 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address, which would later inspire the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The "essential human freedoms" articulated in Roosevelt's address are:

Freedom of speech and expression

Freedom of worship

Freedom from want

Freedom from fear

To commemorate the address, we present images from the propagandistic FDR, The New Lincoln: Foursquare for the Four Freedoms, published in New York by Picture Digest in 1942, and the famous 1943 paintings by Norman Rockwell that were inspired by the Four Freedoms, as reproduced in Norman Rockwell, Artist and Illustrator by Brooklyn Museum director Thomas S. Buechner, published in New York by H. N. Abrams in 1970. These paintings are considered as equally propagandistic, as they were intended to promote patriotism in a time of war.

While the Four Freedom seem like idealistic aspirations, the address was really a national security speech, breaking with the non-interventionist mood of the day. The Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor eleven months later, and the Four Freedoms would be referenced as justification for the U.S. engagement in WWII against the tide of aggression and totalitarianism.

View more Milestone Monday posts

[citizenscreen]

On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses Congress…

Roosevelt insisted that people in all nations of the world shared Americans’ entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

#OnThisDay #FourFreedoms

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

As a nation, we may take pride in the fact that we are softhearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed. We must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the "ism" of appeasement. 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.

—Franklin D Roosevelt, State of the Union Address (the "Four Freedoms speech"), delivered to Congress, Jan 6, 1941

[Robert Scott Horton]

[tomoleary]

Norman Rockwell “The Four Freedoms” (1943)

Every holiday season a specific image goes viral (you know the one; grandma serving turkey dinner or an homage of same) but usually without context. The Quartet were created as a tie in to FDR’s speech, The Four Freedoms, because there’s more than want that we should be free from.

Freedom of Worship means any faith, even if your faith involves spaghetti or magic underpants. Just keep out of my life. “Each according to the dictates of his own conscience” is a cornerstone for me. Don’t force boundaries on me based on your sacred texts because they’re not my sacred texts.

Freedom from Fear is everything. Some who are well fed live frightening lives. Fear does damage that can be hard to spot or screams out loud. No one should ever feel fear.

Freedom of Speech is harder to rationalize, mainly because it’s used as a protection for dangerous, inane rantings. Not every speech should be free. Not incitement to violence, especially.

Freedom from Want epitomizes Thanksgiving and the vast feasts we consume. Like Christmas, New Years, Easter, we go to extremes one day when many are hungry on non-holidays.

“The four freedoms refer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's January 1941 Four Freedoms State of the Union address, in which he identified essential human rights that should be universally protected.”

Wikipedia

[itsslowsonic]

What's Your Problem?

Whenever people talk about South Korea and North Korea, they always compare them together. South Korea and North Korea have the same culture, language and race. What are your first impressions of those two countries? South Korea is famous for its Korean style of fashion, Korean celebrities, and Samsung Electronics. But what about North Korea? Poverty, starvation, and the dictator Kim Jong Un.

You should know the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous "Four Freedoms" speech. As America entered the World War II these "four freedoms" - the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear - symbolized America's war aims and gave hope in the following years to a war-wearied people because they knew they were fighting for freedom.

The first freedom is "Freedom of speech and expression". South Koreans can talk and criticize their government. What about North Koreans? If you criticize the Kim Jong Un regime, you will be thrown into the concentration camps or executed immediately. In North Korea, only the dictator's voice is allowed, you cannot say what you want to say. Sounds familiar? In the US, everything on the main media about Kamala Harris is positive. But everything about Trump is negative. That's what you want, right?

The second freedom is "Freedom of worship". South Koreans can worship whomever they like. But North Koreans must only worship Kim Jong Un and his family members. Yes, you must worship them, no other choices.

The third freedom is "Freedom from want". South Korea has a well-developed trade system, North Koreans can buy everything they want from anywhere in the world. What about North Koreans? Food shortage, energy shortage, industrial materials shortage, medication shortage, etc. Why do they have shortage problems of everything? North Korea has a centrally planned economy, where the government controls prices, production, and what goods are produced. The government's price controls are based on a principle of Marx's economic theory, not market and trade principles. Sounds familiar? A lot of the Democrats' favorite, right? California Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed into a new law to control gas prices (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4933177-california-legislation-gas-prices/). Why price controls will cause shortage? Do your own research.

The fourth freedom is "Freedom from fear". South Koreans have this freedom but North Koreans live under Kim Jong Un's Red Terror every day. Today in the US, in a lot of the Democratic Party-controlled states, people are too scared to wear a MAGA hat outside. Why? Because the Democratic Party educates and brainwashes people to spread hate 24/7. That's what you want, right?

Do you want to live in South Korea or North Korea? Do you want to keep your American way of life? To keep your freedom, democracy, and equality? Do you want to have the North Korean lifestyle? To live under dictatorship, poverty, and starvation? If North Korea is your dream country, why don't you immigrate there? If you know North Korea is bad and you don't want to live like a North Korean, why do you want to make America become another North Korea? What's your problem? Seriously! What's wrong with you? Once again, what's your fking problem?

[burntundertones]

On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D.

Roosevelt addresses Congress...

Roosevelt insisted that people in all nations of the world shared Americans' entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.6 (after 1930)

1930 – Clessie Cummins arrives at the National Automobile Show in New York City, having driven a car powered by one of his diesel engines from Indianapolis. 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address. 1946 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket. 1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response. 1951 – Korean War: Beginning of the Ganghwa massacre, in the course of which an estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered. 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami. 1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties. 1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta. 1968 – Aeroflot Flight 1668 crashes near Olyokminsk, killing 45. 1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashes in Lafayette Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States, killing 11. 1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States. 1974 – Aeroflot Flight H-75 crashes near Mukachevo, killing 24. 1989 – Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day. 1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup. 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol. 1993 – Four people are killed when Lufthansa CityLine Flight 5634 crashes on approach to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, France. 1994 – U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. 1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack. 2000 – The last natural Pyrenean ibex, Celia, is killed by a falling tree, thus making the species extinct. 2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the American Civil Rights Movement. 2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, United States, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas. 2012 – Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus. 2017 – Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida. 2019 – Forty people are killed in a gold mine collapse in Badakhshan province, in northern Afghanistan. 2019 – Muhammad V of Kelantan resigns as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, becoming the first monarch to do so. 2021 – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.

[mayamidnightmelody]

Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) was a prolific American painter and illustrator, widely celebrated for his iconic depictions of American life. His works, characterized by their warmth, humor, and keen observation of everyday scenes, have left an indelible mark on American culture.

Early Life and Career

Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City. He displayed a talent for art at a young age and attended the Chase Art School, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League. His early influences included Howard Pyle and other illustrators of the "Golden Age of Illustration."

The Saturday Evening Post

Rockwell's career took a significant turn in 1916 when he began his long association with The Saturday Evening Post. Over the next 47 years, Rockwell created 323 covers for the magazine, each telling a story of American life with an engaging narrative quality. His ability to capture the essence of American culture made him a household name. Iconic covers such as "The Four Freedoms" series, inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, encapsulated his talent for intertwining art with social and political themes.

Artistic Style and Themes

Rockwell's work is often characterized by its attention to detail, vibrant colors, and realism, yet it also carries a sense of idealism and optimism. He had a knack for portraying the subtleties of human expression and the complexities of everyday situations. Common themes in his work include family life, childhood, and civic duty, reflecting his belief in the fundamental goodness of people.

Major Works and Contributions

The Four Freedoms (1943): A series of four oil paintings—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear—that visually expressed the core freedoms mentioned by Roosevelt. These works were used to promote war bonds and became some of his most famous pieces.

Rosie the Riveter (1943): This iconic image of a muscular woman taking a break from her riveting work during World War II became a symbol of female empowerment and contribution to the war effort.

The Problem We All Live With (1964): This powerful piece depicts six-year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted by federal marshals to an all-white school in New Orleans, highlighting the struggle for civil rights in America.

Later Years and Legacy

In his later years, Rockwell's work took on more serious and socially conscious themes, reflecting the changing times of the 1960s and 1970s. He tackled issues such as civil rights, poverty, and space exploration.

Rockwell passed away on November 8, 1978, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. His legacy lives on through his art, which continues to be celebrated for its ability to tell compelling stories and evoke a deep sense of nostalgia and Americana.

Rockwell's Influence and Recognition

Norman Rockwell's influence extends beyond his illustrations. His art has been exhibited in numerous museums, and the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is dedicated to his work, housing the largest collection of his original art. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, recognizing his significant contribution to American culture.

Rockwell’s ability to capture the essence of American life, his storytelling prowess, and his attention to the human condition have cemented his place as one of the most beloved and enduring American artists. His works continue to inspire and resonate with audiences, offering a window into the heart and soul of 20th-century America.

[vlkphoto]

The Golden Rule

Norman Rockwell painting hanging in the United Nations building at New York City, NY.

The Golden Rule mosaic is based on a painting by well-known American artist Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978). The painting served as the illustration for the cover of the April 1961 issue of the Saturday Evening Post, a popular magazine. Rockwell’s most well-known work is the series of oil paintings called Four Freedoms, which was inspired by a 1941 speech by USA President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 – 1945). The speech centered on the idea of a postwar world based on four basic freedoms; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Another recurring theme in Rockwell’s work is tolerance.     The mosaic depicts people of every race, creed, and color, with dignity and respect and touches on the theme of human rights. Inscribed on the surface of the mosaic is the Golden Rule: Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You. It depicts a common experience and a shared aspiration to unify the world’s religions and philosophies. In the mosaic, people of all traditions and cultures of the world are in united harmony. The artist said, “When I decided to attempt a picture illustrating the Golden Rule and, remembering this charcoal, hauled it out of the cellar and looked at it, I immediately felt that in the grouping of the peoples of the world behind the delegates was the basis for my picture illustrating the Golden Rule.”  The government and the people of the United States of America presented this gift to the United Nations and Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar received it. It was presented by the USA’s First Lady, Nancy Reagan (1921 – 2016), on 21 October 1985, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the United Nations. The Thanks-Giving Square Foundation arranged for the creation and finance of the mosaic. Donor Region:  Western European and Other Groups Donor:  USA Classification:  Architecture & Mosaics Materials:  Glass Medium:  Murano glass tile mosaic Location (Building):  Conference Building (CB) Location floor:  3rd Floor Donation Date:  October 21, 1985 Artist or Maker:  After Norman Rockwell by Coop Mosaic Artistico Veneziano Dimensions:  H: 125 ½ x W: 108 ½ x D: 13 ½ in.

[toradorita]

art collection // two

poem: tengo miedo por maría mercedes carranza

“Todo desaparece ante el miedo. El miedo, Cesonia; ese bello sentimiento, sin aleación, puro y desinteresado; uno de los pocos que saca su nobleza del vientre.”

—Albert Camus (“Calígula”)

Miradme: en mí habita el miedo.

Tras estos ojos serenos, en este cuerpo que ama: el miedo.

El miedo al amanecer porque inevitable el sol saldrá y he de verlo, cuando atardece porque puede no salir mañana.

Vigilo los ruidos misteriosos de esta casa que se derrumba, ya los fantasmas, las sombras me cercan y tengo miedo.

Procuro dormir con la luz encendida

y me hago como puedo a lanzas, corazas, ilusiones.

Pero basta quizás sólo una mancha en el mantel

para que de nuevo se adueñe de mí el espanto.

Nada me calma ni sosiega:

ni esta palabra inútil, ni esta pasión de amor,

ni el espejo donde veo ya mi rostro muerto.

Oídme bien, lo digo a gritos: tengo miedo.

Translation: i am afraid by maría mercedes carranza

“Everything disappears in the face of fear. The fear, Cesonia; that beautiful feeling, unalloyed, pure and disinterested; one of the few who takes his nobility from the womb. "

—Albert Camus (“Caligula”)

Look at me: fear dwells in me.

Behind these serene eyes, in this body that loves: fear.

The fear of sunrise because the sun will inevitably rise and I have to see it when it gets dark because it may not come out tomorrow.

I watch over the mysterious noises of this collapsing house, and the ghosts, the shadows surround me and I am afraid.

I try to sleep with the light on

and I do the best I can with spears, armor, illusions.

But maybe just a stain on the tablecloth is enough

so that fear will take possession of me again.

Nothing calms me or stills me:

neither this useless word, nor this passion of love,

nor the mirror where I already see my dead face.

Listen to me well, I say it loudly: I am afraid.

painting and painter: freedom from fear by norman rockwell [1943]

why it is relevant to the eye of the beholder:

The painting itself is stunning. The detail in every single element is in and out of itself breathtakingly heartbreaking. Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom of Fear” (#4) belongs to a series of paintings named after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech titled “The Four Freedoms” during World War II. Norman Rockwell accurately depicts the fear imbedded into American society (and society in general) during times of war, especially in the lives of children and families. Looking closely at the newspaper held by the father figure in the painting we can get a glimpse of the story being told—by one of the best story tellers in the regionalist and modern art style—where bombings were taking place. The parents tuck their children into bed, appearing nonchalant and bathing their children into ignorance for their own bliss and peace of mind. No one deserves to experience tragedy like that of war, no one deserves to experience tragedy as a whole. Yet it is part of us and who we are as a species and our best bet is hoping for the best. Norman Rockwell excellently portrays this, in a hopeful painting compiled in times of despair.

scripture: isaiah 40:30-31 NLT

“Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

[povertyandthebrain]

'Freedom from want' (1943), an oil-painting by Norman Rockwell. It is the third of the four freedoms series, depicting the four freedoms ('freedom of speech', 'freedom of worship', 'freedom from want', and 'freedom from fear') mentioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union Address.

'Freedom from want' may sound odd, as we all seem to want something. And sometimes, we all seem to always want more. To me, this painting is about poverty, depicting the debate between absolute and relative notions of poverty. In this painting, food, as one of the fundamental necessities of human life, is lifted to another level. In relatively affluent societies, someone may have access to enough food to remain physically healthy. In that case, is it wrong or strange that they desire or want more? When someone does not have the commodities or income to make a beautiful thanksgiving dinner such as the one in the picture, does that make them 'poor'?

Following Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, one could argue that it would. Sen says that people have a number of absolute needs, such as the need to avoid shame, to participate social activities, and to retain self-respect. In different context, these absolute needs may need different levels of income or different commodities, which are, therefore, relative.

[dirjoh-blog]

Four Freedoms

The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941. In an address known as the 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: “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four…

[delux2222]

Jan 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address. The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by President Roosevelt that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:

1.Freedom of speech and expression

2.Freedom of worship

3.Freedom from want

4.Freedom from fear

[stoweboyd]

The gun lobby argues that the political, psychological, and emotional attachment to the ready availability of weapons for some is a value too precious to contemplate rethinking our collective approach to gun regulation. Any regulation that might lead to imposing far more restrictive licensing and background checks, or to limiting the availability of particular kinds of weapons, would be too costly to their selective understanding of constitutional freedoms. According to the gun lobby, individuals engaged in their own fantasy of the heroic citizen equipped to do battle against tyrannical government agents would suffer incalculable collective costs were Americans to restrict their access to weapons. If the choice were the lives of children or the political imagination of a vocal group of armament activists, whose costs should matter more? The inconvenience of some or the lives of others?

The Second Amendment provides an answer. The “security of a free State” matters. Our security is a constitutional value, one that outweighs absolutist gun-rights claims by NRA lobbyists, or Oath Keepers and other insurrectionist groups who hold their access to weapons dear for use in an imagined anti-tyranny quest. Meanwhile, the rest of us suffer the costs of the actual tyranny that living in a state of fear of mass gun violence creates.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 “Four Freedoms” speech placed freedom from fear as one of four essential human freedoms. Translated to our modern gun crisis, this freedom can be realized only when individuals no longer have easy legal access to armaments that put them “in a position to commit an act of [mass] physical aggression against any neighbor.” Children today do not have this freedom from fear. Just to live in society and go to school, they must endure regular active-shooter drills, because the gun lobby has opposed any regulation that would keep weapons out of the hands of those whose activities remain legal up until the exact moment when they start shooting children and teachers. Proposals to make schools more like fortresses only add to the costs children bear rather than addressing the root constitutional problem—that insufficient regulation of guns impairs the liberties of all.

Protecting our freedom from fear does not mean that the government has complete authority to ban guns. To emphasize the amendment’s protections for security is not to abandon liberty. Rather, it is to recognize how excessive emphasis on the liberties of gun advocates undermines the many liberties of everyone else who seeks to live securely in a “free state.” The Second Amendment preserves a free state, not simply a security state.

When we Americans next hear that the Second Amendment protects a right against more effective regulation of weapons capable of imposing death on our neighbors, we should insist in response that the Second Amendment requires the opposite. It empowers a free people to regulate weapons as necessary to maintain their security and to protect their freedoms from fear and violence. We can be free, but only if we regulate guns—just as the Second Amendment tells us.

| Thomas Crocker, Don’t Forget the First Half of the Second Amendment