Four Freedoms: The Great Depression And World War II

The Great Depression and World War II are two prolific events in the United States’ history which define times of both struggle and triumph. This dichotomy is illustrated through Norman Rockwell’s interpretation of Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms. Embodied in these four ideals lies a deep connection to the American spirit and most of all encapsulates the thoughts and fears of Americans during both the Great Depression and World War II. By observing the Four Freedoms through specific mediums such as, film, photographs, and primary sources, a multifaceted analysis can be achieved in deciphering what the Four Freedoms are saying, who their target audience was, their purpose, and finally, their legacy. Ultimately, the Four Freedoms have shaped

American history and have been perceived as icons of this era.
The Four Freedoms were included in Franklin Roosevelt’s January 6, 1941, speech in front of Congress which was about a year before America would join in World War II.

On the surface, the Four Freedoms were simple statements that represented basic human freedoms. These included the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. The general message was that the Freedoms provided a foundation for Americans to feel secure but also to give hope. Many families such as the Florance Thompson depicted by Dorothea Lange in “Destitute Peapickers in California; A Thirty-Two Year Old Mother of Seven Children” (1936), became an icon of the Great Depression era and symbolized economic strife and struggle. Roosevelt’s Freedom from want embodies the concept of every nation maintaining “a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants”. In other words, the government would help alleviate economic hardships and provide ways to help support

Americans.
However, the Four Freedoms failed to recognize how they would be enforced both on the home-front and around the world. It’s one thing to state that the Four Freedoms are important to be implemented everywhere, but it is another thing to enforce them and ensure they are being upheld. For example, General John DeWitt after Pearl Harbor was an advocate for Japanese internment because they posed a national threat. It’s clear that the evacuation and internment of thousands of Japanese Americans violated the ideals of the Four Freedoms. In his final report on the evacuation of the Japanese in 1943, General DeWitt rationalizes his decision by saying that “their loyalties were unknown and time was of the essence.” In other words, the Four Freedoms failed to say when these freedoms could/if be violated. In addition, they present no indication of who is supposed to enforce them, whether it’s the government, military or other force.
In his Annual Message to Congress 1941, Roosevelt repeats the phrase, “Everywhere in the world” (Roosevelt’s Annual Message to Congress, pg.

223), after each description of one of the Four Freedoms in his message to Congress. The implication being that Roosevelt was arguing these rights be extended to all people, all around the world. On the surface, it appears that Roosevelt was idealistically stating that all people, no matter where they live or where they come from are entitled to these Four Freedoms. However, below the surface, the visual depictions that Norman Rockwell chooses unleashes a deeper message that the Four Freedoms held. In his depiction of freedom from want, Norman Rockwell uses a “typical” white middle class family around a beautifully decorated table with a woman serving a big turkey. In addition, in his depiction of freedom of worship, he has a group of people praying and there is one African American woman in the crowd amongst the white majority. These two examples of a visual message portrays middle class white Americans engaging and participating in these Four Freedoms. The negation of including people of color in his images is both explicitly and implicitly excluding them from being visually associated with these freedoms. While Roosevelt claimed the Four Freedoms were for all people, in reality, they only were for some

people.
Ultimately, the Four Freedoms were governmental propaganda. While at first, the ideals were more of a moral compass, it wasn’t until Franklin Roosevelt asked Norman Rockwell to create illustrations of the morals did it become propaganda. When initially introducing the Four Freedoms, President Roosevelt discussed them in front of Congress pre-US involvement in World War II. However, it was in 1943 when Rockwell created the images of the Four Freedoms when these ideals turned into a propaganda to encourage and foster support for the United States’ efforts in World War II. It was this time that the Four Freedoms perform cultural work in the sense the images Rockwell produces are familiar to the American people and depicts images that Americans want to see themselves in. This idea of a perfectly free society where people have the means to achieve “the American Dream”. In addition, since the images are so recognizable and ingrained in American culture, World War II can have the label of being a “good” war in which “evil” forces and powers were defeated and American idealism and values spread globally.
The culminating component of the Four Freedoms would be their solidification as American icons. These four ideals encapsulated in their own unique way, the way Americans felt during the Great Depression and World War II. For example, Tom Joad, an iconic figure from the movie and book The Grapes of Wrath, struggled to find a job and wanted at the end of the film, to fight for worker unions. He felt that he wasn’t achieving the “American dream” and can be seen as a relatable character to everyday Americans. In other words, the Joad family was the visual representation of American grief and struggles during the Great Depression. In the movie Casablanca, an iconic cinematographic film, it captures how people felt about World War II by utilizing Rick, the protagonist to give up his love for Ilsa at the end for the cause of the war. These films are icons because they were sympathetic the emotions and feelings of their audience. Movie watching was a popular event, and families would go every week or multiple time a week. This means, that the audience of these films were the average American citizen. The Four Freedoms remain icons because they tapped into the emotions of the American people and highlighted their struggles but also gave a direction of hope. For the American families that suffered in the Great Depression, these Four Freedoms offered hope for better economic supports and peace. For African Americans and minorities, the Four Freedoms gave them a hope for a Double Victory and to achieve a victory in Europe and on the home-front. In conclusion, the Four Freedoms were important to Americans in the 1930s and 1940s but in many ways, can be applicable to contemporary issues. The connection between modern times and history is one way that icons last forever and are embedded in society.