Franklin D. Roosevelt: Four Freedoms Message to Congress

In his Four Freedoms Message to Congress, delivered on January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the case for American aid to Britain and equated the Lend-Lease Act with preserving “four essential human freedoms” that were universal to humankind. The Four Freedoms he highlighted—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—forced Americans to reevaluate the very concept of freedom in a democratic society. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech—delivered as his annual address to Congress—marked an important shift in America's attitude toward the war in Europe, moving the nation dramatically closer to direct involvement in World War II.

In the spring of 1940, the war raging in Europe showed no signs of lessening. The German blitzkrieg (“lightening war”) had torn through Norway, Denmark, the Low Countries, and, finally, France. Italy’s Benito Mussolini declared war against France and Britain in June, while Japan negotiated a formal alliance with Germany and Italy. In the face of a truly world war, the United States, convinced of its safety (guaranteed by an ocean's separation from the fighting to the east and west) and terrified at the prospect of a repeat of World War I, maintained a precarious position of neutrality. Fresh from a remarkable reelection to a third term as president, Roosevelt faced a daunting challenge: responding to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's requests for aid without involving America in the conflict. His solution was the Lend-Lease Act, which would allow Britain to borrow war materials from the United States with the understanding that they would be returned (or replaced with other goods) after the war.

Once Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor drew the nation into combat, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms became symbols of America's purpose and goals. Roosevelt presented the war as a moral battle between supporters of universal human rights and the powers of despotism and slavery. Captured in Norman Rockwell's paintings, which spoke to millions during the 1940s, the Four Freedoms had far-reaching, international influence; they are enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.