The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States
President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 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: 1.Freedom of speech, 2.Freedom of worship, 3.Freedom
from want, 4.Freedom from fear
Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the United
States declared war on Japan, 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 that was being waged across
the continents in the eastern hemisphere. In the speech, he made a break with
the tradition of United States non-interventionism that had long been held in
the United States. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged
in warfare.
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 includes economic
opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of "adequate
health care". The first two freedoms of speech and religion are protected
by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution.
His inclusion of the
latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional Constitutional values protected
by the U.S. Bill of Rights. Roosevelt endorsed a broader human right to
economic security and anticipated what would become known decades later as the
"human security" paradigm in social science and economic development.
He also included the "freedom from fear" against national aggression
before the idea of a United Nations for this protection was envisioned or
discussed by world leaders and allied nations.
