Roosevelt: 5 Freedoms - 5th July 1940

Discussion in 'USA' started by Owen, Jul 5, 2010.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Last night I read that on this day in 1940 President Roosevelt gave a press conference in New York warning the American people to entertain no thought of compromise with what he called "the new corporate governments" of the world- Germany , Italy & USSR.
    He said that althought some Americans would be impressed with the efficiency of those Governments it came at a price of restricting freedom.
    He said,
    " The new governments generally destroy the legislative and judical branches and delegate all powers to an executive or a dictator , thus striking at the heart of fundamental liberties by which men should and must live."

    He outlined these "Five Freedoms" as conditions for peace.

    1 Freedom from Fear
    2 Freedom of information
    3 Freedom of religion
    4 Freedom of expression
    5 Freedom from want.

    He went on to say whether the USA should encourage , by lack of opposition, those countries which removed such freedoms.
     
  2. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    These freedoms were later shortened to four for reasons unknown to me :D

    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 . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.
    --President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, January 6, 1941
    ... giving rise to Norman Rockwell's famous paintings :

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    In the last picture the paper carries news of bombings over Britain...

    Source: Powers of Persuasion
     
  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Would I be correct in thinking that in wartime you don't actually want, 'Freedom of information'.
    :)
    We went to The Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA on our honeymoon in 1995.
    Excellent place.
    Norman Rockwell Museum | The Home for American Illustration.

    Has anyone got a transcript of what Roosevelt said on 5th July 1940?
     
  4. Fireman

    Fireman Discharged

    Shame really that none of it has come to pass!! Although I don't suppose people believed politicians at that time either!! Me, cynical, perish the thought!
     
  5. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Shame really that none of it has come to pass!! Although I don't suppose people believed politicians at that time either!! Me, cynical, perish the thought!

    Of course it came to pass.
    3 Freedom of religion
    Try being a Jew in Nazi Germany in 1940.
    4 Freedom of expression
    Try saying in the USSR in 1940 , " Stalin is a w&nker!".

    mmm, what do you think would happen?

    Nowadays , Slipdigit can say nasty things about Obama & no-one puts him in jail.
     
  6. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    He'll say it's a matter of time only :lol:
     
  7. Fireman

    Fireman Discharged

    Try being a Jew in Iran or telling Kim Jong he is a !!!!!! Even wearing a cross in Saudi Arabia, eh Za? Sure It has all come to pass! Unfortunately all the freedoms we take for granted most of the world doesn't.
     
  8. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    ......but if anyone has an opinion contrary to the current PC opinions - he is thrown into jail or heavily fined - in too many areas and the people who still support Rooseveldt's freedoms are castigated - and called cowards and all sorts of names by people who would rather see anyone take over their countries - without lifting a finger in defence of those principles.....

    Cheers
     
  9. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    ... or how a commemoration thread becomes a rant fest!

    Welcome to WW2Talk :lol:
     
  10. Fireman

    Fireman Discharged

    Come on Za lets talk cats; mine know all about freedom from want, fear nothing, they are certainly expressive and are agnostic and the only information they want is on who's bed are they sleeping tonight!

    Im not sure President Roosevelt had my cats in mind though!
     
  11. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    At the time FDR pronounced these speeches the US was recovering from a Depression, and the international outlook wasn't any bright at all. A sanguinary Communist regime, an expansionist Germany, an Italian lap-dog, the Japanese aggressions in China, all promised more of what had gone on only two decades before. The programme his speeches revealed was entirely laudable. If things 70 years on have came to pass as he intended, I'm sure it was not his fault. This still is a fine programme.
     
  12. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    Has anyone got a transcript of what Roosevelt said on 5th July 1940?

    Couldn't find a transcript but here you have excerpts from the Press Conference, Hyde Park, New York, July 5, 1940.
     
    Owen likes this.
  13. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Couldn't find a transcript but here you have excerpts from the Press Conference, Hyde Park, New York, July 5, 1940.

    Thanks sol, cheers for that.
    A very helpful post.
     
  14. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

  15. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    Of course it came to pass.
    3 Freedom of religion
    Try being a Jew in Nazi Germany in 1940.
    4 Freedom of expression
    Try saying in the USSR in 1940 , " Stalin is a w&nker!".

    mmm, what do you think would happen?

    Nowadays , Slipdigit can say nasty things about Obama & no-one puts him in jail.

    No, but if someone bad-mouths El Presidente in "The Stump" section of the Free Fire Zone, he puts them in the cooler....
     
  16. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

  17. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Nowadays , Slipdigit can say nasty things about Obama & no-one puts him in jail.
    Now why would I want to say anything derogatory about that misguided, haughty, jug-eared, socialist SOB?

    [/B]

    No, but if someone bad-mouths El Presidente "The Stump" section of the Free Fire Zone, he puts them in the cooler....
    Moi? Naw. Only those whose raison d'être in the forum is to talk politics.

    These freedoms were later shortened to four for reasons unknown to me


    I think it is because two were more or less the same idea, Freedoms of Expression and Information.
     
  18. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Jug eared? That's profiling!

    :D
     
  19. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

    Now why would I want to say anything derogatory about that misguided, haughty, jug-eared, socialist SOB?
    Sounds like a Ron/Hermione thing there. :p
     

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