Roosevelt’s Vision
As Roosevelt spoke, World War II (which the United States had not yet joined) raged across three continents. The world was still shaking from the Great Depression, and Roosevelt rewrote the word “freedom.” Here is Roosevelt’s vision of Four Freedoms:
“The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.What motivated Roosevelt’s vision? First, the free enterprise economic system had collapsed in 1929 and the world, shaking from the fear of hunger and despair, increasingly turned to dictators to save them: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo. Never a good idea, but too many world citizens figured they had nothing to lose.
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.
“The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.
“The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.”
What Is Positive Freedom?
Now, the United States Constitution mostly protects negative freedoms: the government cannot do this; the government cannot do that. The government cannot establish a religion. The government cannot pass ex post facto laws. The government cannot force people to speak at their own trials. The government cannot randomly search your home or impose “cruel and unusual punishments.” And so forth. Those are negatives: things that the government is forbidden to do.
Roosevelt, instead, proposed positive freedoms: the freedoms that enable successful lives. While negative freedoms only ask the government to get out of the way, positive freedoms require group vision.
Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms gave a positive vision. He gave a vision of a world that could be free from the horrors that he felt had led to worldwide collapse. Can the reader disagree? How many people have died in religious wars? How often do cruel dictators suppress free speech? How often do nations turn to war only because they fear someone else? And does not want (hunger—homelessness—despair) become a terrible force that drives people to desperate acts?
So, although Roosevelt did lay out policies that he wanted Congress to support, his real point was to offer a new concept. How, he asked, could we restructure the world to give people more successful lives? That is a positive vision. It is a vision that resonates today. It is a vision that leads to sharp disagreements today.
Earlier Post: Ronald Reagan Spoke on the Fourth of July: Celebrating Freedom, Shared Values, and Diversity
Four Freedoms Today?
As 2023 draws to its close, nations across the world—Hungary, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and others unwisely turn away from republican government to adopt authoritarian attitudes. In January 2021, the United States itself threatened to abandon constitutional government. Poverty still wracks even the most prosperous nations, and the marketing and unpacking of armaments rattles the world’s peace. Authoritarian forces are banning library books in the United States. Countless American children (not to mention world children) go to bed hungry. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms remain a distant, still-unattained goal.
A Commitment to Freedom
All the same, it is a speaker’s privilege to propose seemingly unattainable goals. Roosevelt projected a seemingly remote future in which the world would seek economic and political justice. Roosevelt gave a vision. Can we, in our coming new year, move forward, as a world, to improve all our lives? Or will we let fear and jealousy rule use? The world is richer than ever, but can we learn to respect one another? To help one another? To Roosevelt, this was a positive vision. It was not a vision of mealy-mouthed liberal weakness, but a vision of power and strength.
For, behind the Four Freedoms, Roosevelt pledged his nation’s moral and military vigor. Accordingly, he concluded his vision of positive freedom with these breathtaking words:
Earlier Post: Abraham Lincoln and the Definition of “Liberty:” A Lesson for Our Time
Four Freedoms Today?
As 2023 draws to its close, nations across the world—Hungary, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and others unwisely turn away from republican government to adopt authoritarian attitudes. In January 2021, the United States itself threatened to abandon constitutional government. Poverty still wracks even the most prosperous nations, and the marketing and unpacking of armaments rattles the world’s peace. Authoritarian forces are banning library books in the United States. Countless American children (not to mention world children) go to bed hungry. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms remain a distant, still-unattained goal.
A Commitment to Freedom
All the same, it is a speaker’s privilege to propose seemingly unattainable goals. Roosevelt projected a seemingly remote future in which the world would seek economic and political justice. Roosevelt gave a vision. Can we, in our coming new year, move forward, as a world, to improve all our lives? Or will we let fear and jealousy rule use? The world is richer than ever, but can we learn to respect one another? To help one another? To Roosevelt, this was a positive vision. It was not a vision of mealy-mouthed liberal weakness, but a vision of power and strength.
For, behind the Four Freedoms, Roosevelt pledged his nation’s moral and military vigor. Accordingly, he concluded his vision of positive freedom with these breathtaking words:
“Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.Roosevelt taught a powerful lesson to a world that was shattered by poverty, injustice, and war. He gave a powerful lesson to a world that, in 1941, faced unspeakable disaster. His lesson reaches us in the 21st Century. Will we listen? Or not?
“To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”
Earlier Post: Abraham Lincoln and the Definition of “Liberty:” A Lesson for Our Time
Let us never forget the disaster of the 1940’s, nor let us forget the horrors that “strong” leaders inevitably create. Let us never forget the massive sacrifices that eventually brought a smashed world to a shaky peace. My own father received two battle stars in World War II, serving in North Africa and southern France. He survived uninjured; some of his best buddies were not so lucky. My father-in-law was a combat-disabled World War II veteran, torpedoed by a Nazi submarine. My mother never again enjoyed Christmas, not after her 19-year-old brother lost his life fighting Nazis on December 26, 1944 at the Battle of the Bulge. Perhaps 50 million people died before the war ended. The largest part of the dead were massacre victims. If the nation, the world, returns to authoritarianism, it will have callously discarded their sacrifices. If we fail to uplift one another in a positive way, we will have discarded Roosevelt's lesson.
For, as Roosevelt told us, freedom means more than just being left alone. Freedom is not “just another word for nothin' left to lose.” Freedom, Roosevelt said, means to live in a world of justice.
For, as Roosevelt told us, freedom means more than just being left alone. Freedom is not “just another word for nothin' left to lose.” Freedom, Roosevelt said, means to live in a world of justice.
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Research Note: Several scholars have written about positive versus negative values. Kenneth Burke's The Rhetoric of Religion is a good place to start.
by William D. Harpine
Copyright © 2023 William D. Harpine
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