President Roosevelt named freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear as the freedoms at stake in the allies' war against WWII's Axis powers.
The Four Freedoms come from a speech made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in January 1941.
He talked of freedom of speech and expression; "freedom of every person to worship God in his own way"; "freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants"; and fourthly "freedom from fear".
The Four Freedoms remain powerful today although their meaning has often evolved. 'Freedom From Fear' - in this age of terror is again associated with external threats - but has also become associated with freedom from crime.
Freedom of worship was a freedom that most in the west thought had been won - but post l’affaire Buttiglione many European churchgoers are wondering if secular neutrality is, in reality, a totalitolerant creed.
Different political philosophies and different ages emphasise different kinds of freedom. Right-of-centre politicians tend to emphasise the rights of individuals to be free from state restrictions whilst left-of-centre theorists often fight for the state to give people the means to enjoy freedom.
Norman Rockwell and The Four Freedoms
Roosevelt's four freedoms were later immortalised in four 'homely' paintings by Norman Rockwell that you can view by clicking here. Copies of Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings were sold during WWII to raise US$132 for the war effort.
The New York Times produced a special version of Rockwell's ’Freedom from Fear’ painting in the aftermath of 9/11. In the original painting the father in the painting is holding a copy of a newspaper that is reporting the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. In the NYT's remake it is that newspaper's September 12th edition - with its reports of al-Qaeda's attacks - that is in his hand.
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