FDRs Four Freedoms

Continuation of or Deviation from

U.S. Democratic Principles?
&
An Exercise in Visual Literacy
Setting the Stage: How would
you visually depict freedom of
speech?
 Setting a historical
context
O What was President Franklin Roosevelts
major foreign policy concern during 1940-41?
O Who was he seeking to aid during this time?
Why?
O What event was the U.S. trying to recover
from during this time?
O What happened to people in the U.S. during
that event?
How did that event contribute to the foreign
policy concern that FDR faced during 1940-
41?
 We must be the great arsenal
of democracy speech (1940)
O We have come to a clear
realization of the fact that
true individual freedom
cannot exist without
economic security &
independence.
Necessitous men are not
free men. People who
are hungry & out of a job
are the stuff of which
dictatorships are made.
O In our day these
economic truths have
become accepted as
self-evident. We have
accepted, so to speak, a
second Bill of Rights
under which a new basis
of security and
prosperity can be
established for all
regardless of station,
race, or creed
 Sourcing
O Who gave this address?
O When was the address given? (December 29, 1940)
O Who was speaker addressing?
O What type of presentation was the address? (This
is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national
security)
O What means of communication was the speaker
using?
O FDR & Arsenal of Democracy speech
O (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= LPwJIswbDk0)
 Given his arsenal of
democracy speech, what
freedoms do you think
FDR was referencing?
Do you know any
of FDRs Four
Freedoms?

Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion
Freedom from Fear
Freedom from Want
 FDRs 1941 State of the
Union Address
OIn the future days, which we
seek to make secure, we look
forward to a world founded
upon four essential freedoms.
 Does anyone have
an idea of who
visually
immortalized FDRs
Four Freedoms?
 Does anyone have
an idea of who
visually
immortalized FDRs
Four Freedoms?

Norman Rockwell
Which is which?

Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion
Freedom from Fear
Freedom from Want
Specific Ambiguity
is how some have
described Rockwells use of
imagery in this painting,
which were used in a war
bond drive.
Lets examine Rockwells
work more closely
Specific Ambiguity

What is the setting?

What evidence support

your impression of the
setting?
Specific Ambiguity
What is the setting?

What evidence support

your impression of the
setting?

What evidence is there of

multiple physical settings?

What would you associate

with each setting?
Specific Ambiguity

Assuming that those in the

painting are attending a town
hall meeting, what
characterizes one?
Specific Ambiguity

Assuming that those in the

painting are attending a town
hall meeting, what
characterizes one?

What is the relation between

town hall meeting and U.S.
democracy?
Specific Ambiguity

What time of day is this likely

occurring?

How would you describe the

man in the middle of the
painting?
Specific Ambiguity
What time of day is this likely
occurring?

How would you describe the

man in the middle of the
painting?

While we often associate a

town hall meeting with New
England, what region of
nation do you think that the
man is from?
Specific Ambiguity

How would you describe

other people in painting?

What are are some holding or

have with them?
 Now, lets shift
gears
..and examine images &
text information on related
work of President Truman &
Eleanor Roosevelt
Does such work represent a
departure, continuation or
expansion of FDRs
conception of the Four
Freedoms?.
 Applying what you have
learned
O What follows is
information about how
U.S. delegate to the U.N.
Eleanor Roosevelt &
President Truman acted
on FDRs Four Freedoms
O How might students
dissect them to discern
how Truman & Eleanor
Roosevelt integrated
FDRs Four Freedoms
into future policy?
Drafting of UN Declarat
ionDrafters
of Humanof
Rights
Declaration
Adoption of Declaration
 Now, Therefore THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a
common standard of achievement for all
peoples & all nations, to the end that
every individual & every organ of
society, keeping this Declaration
constantly in mind, shall strive by
teaching & education to promote
respect for these rights & freedoms &
by progressive measures, national &
international, to secure their universal &
effective recognition & observance, both
among the peoples of Member States
themselves & among the peoples of
territories under their jurisdiction.

Article I: All human beings are born

free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and
conscience and should act towards
one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
 Four Freedoms: Post WWII
O How might you track each O Freedom of
freedom from WWII to the speech
present? O Freedom of
O What are examples of each
religion
freedom in the post WWII
world to the present? O Freedom from
O What are domestic & want
foreign policy examples of O Freedom from
each? fear
O What are contemporary
examples of each?
Contemporary Images
The End
 Which freedom?
O Jehovahs Witnesses refuse to salute &
pledge allegiance to the flag
O Anti-lynching legislation routinely failed in
Congress during 1930s
O Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma, 1988) May the
entire people be united and disciplined. May
our people always do what is in complete
accord with rightful principles. May the
people be free from all harm.
O New Deal programs like Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation; Social Security; Fair
Labor Standards Act; and, Home Owners
Loan Corporation.
 Eleanor Roosevelt, July 4th,
1940, My Day column
O I personally want to continue to live in a country
where I can think as I please, go to any church I
please, or to none if that is my desire; say what I
please, and within the limits of any free society, do
what I please, she wrote. I want the right to
work, and I want that opportunity to be extended
to all my fellow citizens. I want them to have an
equal opportunity for educational development, for
health and for recreation, which is all part of the
building of a human being capable of coping with
the modern world.
O https://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1940&_f=md055623