Carousel: FDR’s “Four Freedoms” and Orwell’s 1984
A highlight indicates the name of the file of the item.
Objective: Students will understand Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vision of world freedom, how
Norman Rockwell and other artists communicated that vision, how those
freedoms are upheld or denied today, and finally how Orwell’s 1984
addressed individual’s freedoms.
Essential questions: What is Freedom? How would a government go about ensuring these
freedoms?
Begin by watching introducing Roosevelt’s four freedoms Roosevelt’s Four Freedom Speech at
5:24-end. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnrZUHcpoNA
Introduce Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedom’s

Ubiquity of Rockwell in US culture of the 20s-40s

Rockwell’s inspiration for this set of paintings

Use of this set of paintings in the sale of government bonds
Optional printed materials:

Rockwell Biography (see below)

Excerpts from FDR’s Four Freedoms speech (see below)
Carousel Brainstorming - Small groups of students rotate around the classroom, stopping at
various “stations” for a designated period of time (these articles are lengthy and may require
additional time—25 minutes). At each station, students activate their prior knowledge of a topic
or concept and share their ideas with their small group.
1.
Divide the class into 5 groups of four to five (add a related article to decrease group size) and
assign each group a different colored marker with which they will write their responses on
the chart paper. Assign each group to a particular “station.”
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Give groups 25 minutes to discuss the topic/concept/questions at each station. Answer
questions on the guide sheets at each station. A group director will take keep the sheets to
copy after they have rotated to all stations.
After the allotted minutes, each group rotates to the next station where they will read the new
topic/concept/question and what others have written about it, discuss it with their group, and
address new information.
Continue this process until each group is back to their original station.
Wrap up the brainstorming session by having a discussion about the topics and station
information, reading/discussing what each group wrote.
Have students organize the information from the brainstorming session by using a graphic
organizer, writing a summary, or doing a gallery walk, recording useful information.
Carousel Brainstorming - Small groups of students rotate around the classroom, stopping at
various “stations” for a designated period of time (about 20-25 minutes).
1. Give each student the Four Freedoms Carousel Assignment.
2. Divide the class into 5 groups of four to five (add a related article to decrease group size) and
assign each group a different colored marker with which they will write their responses on the
chart paper. Assign each group to a particular “station.”
3. Give groups 25 minutes to discuss the topic/concept/questions at each station. Students have a
page to complete at each station. Students record their answer to the essential question on the
chart paper at that station.
4. After the allotted minutes, each group rotates to the next station where they will read the new
topic/concept/question and what others have written about it, discuss it with their group, and
address new information. Students can also write questions about this freedom.
5. Continue this process until each group is back to their original station.
6. Wrap up the brainstorming session by having a discussion about the topics and station
information, reading/discussing what each group wrote.
7. Have students organize the information from the brainstorming session by using a graphic
organizer, writing a summary, creating a mind map, or doing a gallery walk, recording useful
information.
Carousel centers:
1.) Freedom from Want

Rockwell’s “Freedom From Want” (see Rockwell’s Four Freedoms)

6 copies (1 per student) Excerpts and Graphs from The Atlantic Article “The
Undeserving Poor”
2) Freedom from Fear

Rockwell’s “Freedom From Fear” (see Rockwell’s Four Freedoms)

6 copies (1 per student) of the Time article “Tread on Me”
3) Freedom of Speech

Rockwell’s “Freedom of Speech” (see Rockwell’s Four Freedoms)

6 copies (1 per student) of the NYT article “The First Amendment’s Limit”
4) Freedom of Religion

Rockwell’s “Freedom to Worship” (see Rockwell’s Four Freedoms)

6 copies (1 copy per student) of the NYT article “In God’s Name or Baby Messiah”
5) Views of the four freedoms

Brief sketch “FDR’s Four Freedoms and 1984” (written hurriedly by Amy Richey
intern Fall of 2014—revise as appropriate)

Art Hazelwood’s Four Freedoms (1996) (see below)

Arthur Szyk’s Four Freedoms (1941) (see below)

Ward Sutton’s Four Freedoms (2005) (see below)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech
(Excerpts)
Delivered on January 6, 1941
“Mr. Speaker, members of the 77th Congress (1941 State of the Union Address):
I address you, the members of this new 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.
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.”
QUOTES FROM ROOSEVELT ABOUT THE FOUR FREEDOMS
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941, Item 27 Speech at the Annual Dinner of
White House Correspondents' Association. March 15, 1941
“A few weeks ago, I spoke of four freedoms -- freedom of speech and expression,
freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, freedom from want, and freedom
from fear. They are the ultimate stake. They may not be immediately attainable throughout the
world but humanity does move toward those glorious ideals through democratic processes.
And if we fail - if democracy is superseded by slavery - then those four freedoms, or even the
mention of them, will become forbidden things. Centuries will pass before they can be
revived.”
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942, Item 23 Fireside Chat Radio Address.
February 23, 1942
“We of the United Nations are agreed on certain broad principles in the kind of peace
we seek. The Atlantic Charter applies not only to the parts of the world that border the Atlantic
but to the whole world; disarmament of aggressors, self-determination of Nations and peoples,
and the four freedoms -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and
freedom from fear.”
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942, Item 70 Radio Address on United Flag
Day. June 14
“The four freedoms of common humanity are as much elements of man's needs as air
and sunlight, bread and salt. Deprive him of all these freedoms and he dies -- deprive him of a
part of them and a part of him withers. Give them to him in full and abundant measure, and
he will cross the threshold of a new age, the greatest age of man.
These freedoms are the rights of men of every creed and every race, wherever they live.
This is their heritage, long withheld. We of the United Nations have the power and the men
and the will, at last, to assure man's heritage.
The belief in the four freedoms of common humanity – the belief in man, created free,
in the image of God – is the crucial difference between ourselves and the enemies we face
today. In it lies the absolute unity of our alliance, opposed to the oneness of the evil we hate.
Here is our strength, the source and promise of victory.”
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942, Item 92 Address to the International
Student Assembly. September 3, 1942
“In the concept of the four freedoms, in the basic principles of the Atlantic Charter, we
have set for ourselves high goals, unlimited objectives.
There is still, however, a handful of men and women, in the United States and
elsewhere, who mock and sneer at the four freedoms and the Atlantic Charter. They are few in
number; but some of them have the financial power to give our enemies the false impression
that they have a large following among our citizenry. They play petty politics in a world crisis.
They fiddle with many sour notes while civilization burns. These puny prophets decry our
determination to implement our high concepts and our sound principles. And the words of
these little men of little faith are quoted with gleeful approval by the press and the radio of our
enemies.”
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943, Item 4 State of the Union Address to
Congress. January 7, 1943
“Two years ago I spoke in my Annual Message of four freedoms. The blessings of two
of them - freedom of speech and freedom of religion - are an essential part of the very life of
this Nation; and we hope that these blessings will be granted to all men everywhere.”
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943, Item 53 Letter to the United Nations
Conference on Food and Agriculture. May 18, 1943
“We know that in the world for which we are fighting and working the four freedoms
must be won for all men. We know, too, that each freedom is dependent upon the others; that
freedom from fear, for example, cannot be secured without freedom from want. If we are to
succeed, each Nation individually, and all Nations collectively, must undertake these
responsibilities”
The Presidential Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943, Item 96 Address at Ottawa, Canada.
August 25, 1943
“I am everlastingly angry only at those who assert vociferously that the four freedoms
and the Atlantic Charter are nonsense because they are unattainable. If those people had lived
a century and a half ago they would have sneered and said that the Declaration of
Independence was utter piffle. If they had lived nearly a thousand years ago they would have
laughed uproariously at the ideals of Magna Charta. And if they had lived several thousand
years ago they would have derided Moses when he came from the Mountain with the Ten
Commandments.”
Norman Rockwell, a Biography
By 1943, the paintings of Norman Rockwell were recognized and loved by almost everyone
in the United States. Americans had seen Rockwell’s art on the cover of the Saturday Evening
Post, a weekly magazine read by millions.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894 in New York City and studied at the New
York School of Art. He enlisted in the Army at the beginning of World War I and served as a
military artist.
In 1916, at age 22, he painted his first cover for the Saturday Evening Post. Over the next 47
years he painted 321 covers as well as illustrations for many other national magazines.
When World War II broke out Rockwell wanted to help his country, but he was too old to
fight. Norman and his friend and illustrator Mead Schaeffer talked about how to help. When he
heard the president wanted the four Freedoms illustrated, he knew he had found a way to help.
The two men went to Washington D. C. with rough sketches of their ideas and spent the day
offering their services free to the government.
Robert Patterson, Undersecretary of War, was the first person to reject them. All day they
went from office to office ending up at the Office of War Information. An official there told
them that “real artists would be doing posters not illustrators.”
On the return trip they stopped in Philadelphia to see the editor of the Saturday Evening Post.
Ben Hibbs loved the idea and told Rockwell “Norman, you’ve got to do them for us.”
It took Rockwell seven months to complete the four paintings, during which time he lost 15
pounds. He repainted Freedom to Worship three times before he was happy with it. Freedom
from Fear and Freedom of Speech were painted two times. Rockwell described the creation of
the paintings as “serious work which sucked the energy right out of me, leaving me dazed and
weary.” The Four Freedoms paintings appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in June of 1943.
Each week a different freedom was on the cover. Each painting was accompanied by an article
about that freedom by a famous American writer.
The American people loved the paintings. Norman Rockwell immediately received more
than 70,000 letters of encouragement. A set of small reproductions was given to every person
who bought a war bond. President Roosevelt sent a larger set of reproductions and his speech to
Congress, leaders in the United Nations, and heads of state around the world.
Norman Rockwell not only helped communicate Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, but the
paintings were used to raise money to help pay for the war. World War II was largely paid for
by selling war bonds. In 1943-44, $133 million was raised through the sale of war bonds during
a 14-city tour. The materials displayed during that campaign included Rockwell’s original
paintings.
Art Hazelwood, (1961- )
Four Freedoms, 1996
Collection of the Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s College of California
Based on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech to Congress
on January 6, 1941, Szyk evokes the Renaissance with its domed churches and
Madonna and child, as well as the formation of the United States. The slogans of the
founding fathers have been carefully drawn into the image, including "United we
stand, divided we fall," underneath the prayer on the left; "That the government of
the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth," on a scroll before the
white wise man; "Pursuit of happiness, life, liberty" on the offerings of the three
"magi." Szyk used several pigments in the creation of each element of this work of
art that are only clearly visible under magnification.