Jackson List: Four Freedoms, Newly Alive at Seventy-Five

Today marks the 75^th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s January 6, 1941, State of the Union address—the “Four Freedoms” speech.

In a Jackson List post five years ago (click here), I described the occasion and the speech—and the presence, in the first row of the House chamber, of Attorney General Robert H. Jackson.

I continue to recommend the following resource links, all on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum website:

• the text of the full speech:  fdrlibrary.marist.edu/pdfs/fftext.pdf;

• FDR’s reading copy of the speech:  fdrlibrary.marist.edu/pdfs/ffreadingcopy.pdf;

• audio of part one of FDR delivering the speech:  fdrlibrary.marist.edu/ffaudiofull.mp3;  and

• audio of part two of FDR delivering the speech, including the “four essential human freedoms” passage: fdrlibrary.marist.edu/ffaudioclip.mp3.

In addition, or first, please watch this newly enhanced, audio-synced, High Definition video of that key passage in the speech:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrNDwyj4u1w.

In this post, Paul M. Sparrow, Director of the FDR Library, describes the creation of this new treasure:   http://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2016/01/06/four_freedoms/.