Freedom From Fear

The Four Freedoms

Freedom from Fear

Fourth in a series

In the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” Tevye lives in a Jewish settlement in Czarist Russia. The village Jews and the Russias maintain a tenuous peace until the greater world interferes.

In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt made his “Four Freedoms” speech. The freedoms included Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, and Freedom from Want — “everywhere in the world.” Roosevelt’s fourth freedom was: “The 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 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.”

In 1941, Europe was at war. Dictators seeking a new world order wielded weapons which could obliterate borders and decimate populations. Americans feared being drawn into the conflict. Roosevelt knew that no nation would be safe until every nation committed to peace.

Roosevelt’s speech inspired painter Norman Rockwell. His painting “Freedom from Fear” shows parents tucking sleeping children into bed. Rockwell’s paintings inspired essays which expanded Roosevelt’s vision. 

Poet and novelist Stephen Vincent Benet wrote “Fear has walked at man’s heels through many ages….” Humanity fought disease, enslavement, hunger, and nature to assure safety for its children.” No single person succeeded in relieving fear; it took many people working over many years to secure and re-secure freedom from fear.

By 1941, the world had gotten smaller. Where once people could secure peace in their own corner of the world, new technologies allowed invading powers to easily destroy that peace. Benet wrote: “It is not enough to say, ‘Here, in our country we are strong. Let the rest of the world sink or swim. We can take care of ourselves’… No man can do it alone. No nation can do it alone. It must be all men.” 

The world is even smaller today. Does Roosevelt’s vision hold true? Can all parents put sleeping children to bed without fear? Are we working together to guarantee freedom from fear in all nations?

In “Fiddler on the Roof,” Tevye and his friends gather to celebrate his daughter’s betrothal in a community gathering place. Local Russians join the celebration, toasting Tevye, and wishing that, “We may live together in peace!” That peace is shattered when greater powers interfere. 

People everywhere want peace. Benet concludes his essay with these words: “Real peace will not be won with one victory. It can be won only by long determination, firm resolve, and a wish to share and work with other men, no matter what their race or creed or condition.” 

Have we the firm resolve to work together to ensure freedom from fear — “everywhere in the world?”

(FDR’s full speech (voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu),Rockwell’s paintings, and Benet’s essay (www.saturdayeveningpost.com) are available online. I encourage you to find them.)