Excerpt of “The Four Freedoms” Speech
Franklin D. Roosevelt
January 6, 1941
Eighth Annual Message to Congress
[excerpt]
I address you, the Members of the Seventy-seventh Congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union. I use the word "unprecedented," because at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today. . . .
Our national policy is this:
First . . . we are committed to all inclusive national defense.
Second . . . we are committed to full support of all those resolute peoples, everywhere, who are resisting aggression and are thereby keeping war away from our hemisphere. By this support, we express our determination that the democratic cause shall prevail; and we strengthen the defense and security of our own Nation.
Third . . . we are committed to the proposition that principles of morality and considerations for our own security will never permit us to acquiesce in a peace dictated by aggressors and sponsored by appeasers. We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people’s freedom.
Therefore, the immediate need is a swift and driving increase in our armament production.
To change a whole nation from a basis of peacetime production of implements of peace to a basis of wartime production of implements of war is no small task. And the greatest difficulty comes at the beginning of the program, when new tools and plant facilities and new assembly lines and shipways must first be constructed before the actual materiel begins to flow steadily and speedily from them.
I also ask this Congress for authority and for funds sufficient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations which are now in actual war with aggressor nations.
Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an arsenal for them as well as for ourselves. They do not need man power. They do need billions of dollars worth of the weapons of defense.
. . . .
I recommend that we make it possible for those nations to continue to obtain war materials in the United States, fitting their orders into our own program. Nearly all of their materiel would, if the time ever came, be useful for our own defense.
Let us say to the democracies: "We Americans are vitally concerned in your defense of freedom. We are putting forth our energies, our resources, and our organizing powers to give you the strength to regain and maintain a free world. We shall send you, in ever-increasing numbers, ships, planes, tanks, guns. This is our purpose and our pledge."
When the dictators are ready to make war upon us, they will not wait for an act of war on our part. They did not wait for Norway or Belgium or the Netherlands to commit an act of war.
. . .
The happiness of future generations of Americans may well depend upon how effective and how immediate we can make our aid felt. No one can tell the exact character of the emergency situations that we may be called upon to meet. The Nation’s hands must not be tied when the Nation’s life is in danger. We must all prepare to make the sacrifices that the emergency-as serious as war itself-demands. Whatever stands in the way of speed and efficiency in defense preparations must give way to the national need.
A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups. A free nation has the right to look to the leaders of business, of labor, and of agriculture to take the lead in stimulating effort, not among other groups but within their own groups.
I have called for personal sacrifice. I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call.
A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my Budget message I recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying today. No person should try, or be allowed, to get rich out of this program; and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.
If the Congress maintains these principles, the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause.
In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
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.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
To that new order we oppose the greater conception—the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.
Since the beginning of our American history, we have been engaged in change—in a perpetual peaceful revolution—a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing conditions—without the concentration camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory.
From: “The Four Freedoms.” Speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 6, 1941Eighth Annual Message to Congress. Teaching American History.org. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University. 18 Feb. 2010 <http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=83>.
Lend-Lease Document #1
Radio Address
Sen. Burton Wheeler (D-MT)
December 31, 1940
We sympathize with the oppressed and persecuted everywhere. We also realize that we have great problems at home, that one-third of our population is ill-fed, ill-housed and ill-clad, and we have been told repeatedly, upon the highest authority, that unless and until this situation is corrected our democracy is in danger. I fully subscribe to this view. Believing as I do, in this thesis, I cannot help but feel that we should settle our own problems before we undertake to settle the problems of Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and Europe.
. . . .
Remember, if we lend or lease war materials today, we will lend or lease American boys tomorrow.
. . . .
Our independence can only be lost or compromised if Germany invades the Western Hemisphere north of the equator. . . . It is not possible for the German Navy to prepare an effective plan for such an invasion which our Navy and Army with our air force cannot defeat. Remember, Hitler has already been seven months in vainly trying to cross twenty miles.
. . . .
I, for one, believe the policy advocated by the interventionists is insane and it will lead to total war, and war is insanity… Americans! Do not let yourselves be swayed by mass hysteria. Do not travel again the road that took you in 1917.
About the Author: Senator Burton Wheeler served as a Democrat from Montana from 1928 to 1946. Sen. Burton started the 1930s as a strong Roosevelt supporter but broke from the President to become one of leading critics of the President’s foreign policies. Sen. Burton even help create the America First Committee, which sought to stay out of the affairs of Europe and concentrate on the issues at home in the United States.
From: Radio Address. Sen. Burton Wheeler. Teaching American History.org. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University. 18 Feb. 2010 <http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1592>.
Lend-Lease Document #2
We are not Prepared for War: Our Dangers are Here at Home
Charles Lindbergh
February 6, 1941
Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
In the hope that it will save time and add to clarity, I have attempted to outline briefly my reasons for opposition to this bill. . . . I oppose it because I think it represents a policy which will weaken rather than strengthen our nation.
. . . .
And here I would like to say that I have never taken the stand that it makes no difference to us who wins this war in Europe. It does make a difference to us, a great difference. But I do not believe that it is either possible or desirable for us in America to control the outcome of European wars.
. . . .
. . .The policy of depleting our own forces to aid England is based upon the assumption that England will win this war. Personally, I do not believe that England is in a position to win the war. If she does not win, or unless our aid is used in negotiating a better peace than could otherwise be obtained, we will be responsible for futilely prolonging the war and adding to the bloodshed and devastation in Europe, particularly among the democracies.
In that case, the only advantage we can gain by our action lies in whatever additional time we obtain to prepare ourselves for defense. But instead of consolidating our own defensive position in America, we are sending a large portion of our armament production abroad.
. . .
What we are doing in following our present policy is giving up an ideal defense position in America for a very precarious offensive position in Europe. I would be opposed to our entering the internal wars of Europe under any circumstances. But it is an established fact today, that our Army and our Air Force are but poorly equipped on modern standards, and even our Navy is in urgent need of new equipment.
. . . I advocate building strength in America because I believe we can be successful in this hemisphere. I oppose placing our security in an English victory because I believe that such a victory is extremely doubtful.
About the Author: Charles Lindbergh became a national hero for his exploits as a pilot in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Lindbergh became more known for his politics, even helping found the America First Committee.
Source: American History.org. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University. 18 Feb. 2010 <http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1601>.
Lend-Lease Document #3
Sen. James Byrnes (D-SC)
January 17, 1941
There is nothing altruistic about the determination of the United States to aid those nations now defending themselves against the forces of aggression. We are moved by reasons more impelling. We know that our own Democracy is menaced by the forces that now seek to destroy those Democracies across the Atlantic. One conquest only whets the dictators’ desire for more power. If Great Britain falls, the United States will stand practically alone on the brink of the precipice. . . .
Let us face the facts. The reason we are feverishly working to provide an Army and Navy is to defend ourselves against the Axis powers. If we could be certain that Britain would defeat Hitler we could and would stop appropriating money for military purposes. But we cannot be certain of it. We are certain only that each day Britain holds Hitler we are better able to defend America. If Britain can hold Hitler for a year, we can hold him forever. Self preservation, therefore, demands that we now give Britain aid instead of sympathy. . . .
There is another group of people who believe that we can rely upon the statement of Hitler that he has no dreams of world conquest. But we cannot forget a long and gory list of broken pledges.
On September 26, 1938, Hitler, speaking of Poland, said: "We are all determined and also convinced that our agreement will bring about lasting and continuous pacification. We are two peoples. They shall live."
Less than one year after he made that statement, Hitler ordered his war machine to crush Poland. . . .
On two different occasions Hitler reassured uneasy neighbors with these words: "The new Reich has endeavored to continue the traditional friendship with Holland,… We have given guarantees for the states in the West."
On the morning of May 10, 1940, Hitler’s legions invaded Belgium and The Netherlands.
. . . In the face of such evidence what nation could be so gullible as to believe in the sincerity of the totalitarian leadership? Helpless nations lie along the trail of Hitler’s broken promises and violated pledges. . . .
Admittedly there is danger in any course we pursue. But if we aid Britain, and the theater of war remains in Europe, our own cities will stand intact, stalwart witnesses to the progress recorded by our way of life. . . . So long as Great Britain is able to hold Hitler at bay, America can arm and contribute its share to the all-important task of holding him, without suffering any of the ravages of modern war.
On the other hand, if we fail to aid Britain and next summer the British should succumb to Hitler’s assaults, and the British fleet fall into the hands of Hitler, all this will be changed. With the German fleet in the Atlantic and the Japanese fleet in the Pacific every individual, every institution in this hemisphere, will be in peril. We would stand alone, friendless, in a world ruled by madmen. . . . credit them with good intentions, but to please them, we cannot sacrifice the lives and the liberties of the American people. . . .