Uncivil Rights

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.
Since the permanent formation of our government under the
Constitution in 1789, most of the periods of crisis in our
history have related to our domestic affairs. And,
fortunately, only one of these --the four-year war between
the States --ever threatened our national unity.

It is true that prior to 1914 the United States often has
been disturbed by events in other continents. We have even
engaged in two wars with European nations and in a number of
undeclared wars in the West Indies, in the Mediterranean and
in the Pacific, for the maintenance of American rights and
for the Principles of peaceful commerce. But in no case has
a serious threat been raised against our national safety or
our continued independence.
What I seek to convey is the historic truth that the United
States as a nation has at all times maintained opposition
--clear, definite opposition-- to any attempt to lock us in
behind an ancient Chinese wall while the procession of
civilization went past. Today, thinking of our children and
of their children, we oppose enforced isolation for
ourselves or for any other part of the Americas.

That determination of ours, extending over all these years,
was proved, for example, in the early days during the
quarter century of wars following the French Revolution.
While the Napoleonic struggle did threaten interests of the
United States because of the French foothold in the West
Indies and in Louisiana, and while we engaged in the War of
1812 to vindicate our right to peaceful trade, it is
nevertheless clear that neither France nor Great Britain nor
any other nation was aiming at domination of the whole
world.

And in like fashion, from 1815 to 1914 --ninety-nine years
--no single war in Europe or in Asia constituted a real
threat against our future or against the future of any other
American nation.
Except in the Maximilian interlude in Mexico, no foreign
power sought to establish itself in this hemisphere. And
the strength of the British fleet in the Atlantic has been a
friendly strength; it is still a friendly strength.
Even when the World War broke out in 1941 it seemed to
contain only small threat of danger to our own American
future. But as time went on, as we remember, the American
people began to visualize what the downfall of democratic
nations might mean to our own democracy.

We need not harp on failure of the democracies
to deal with problems of world reconstruction. We should
remember that the peace of 1919 was far less unjust than the
kind of pacification which began even before Munich, and
which is being carried on under the new order of tyranny
that seeks to spread over every continent today.
The American people have unalterably set their faces against
that tyranny.
I suppose that every realist knows that the democratic way
of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every
part of the world --assailed either by arms or by secret
spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who seek to
destroy unity and promote discord in nations that are still
at peace.

During sixteen long months this assault has blotted out the
whole pattern of democratic life in an appalling number of
independent nations, great and small. And the assailants
are still on the march, threatening other nations, great and
small.
Therefore, as your President, performing my constitutional
duty to "give to the Congress information of the state of
the union," I find it unhappily necessary to report that the
future and the safety of our country and of our democracy
are overwhelmingly involved in events far beyond our
borders.

Armed defense of democratic existence is now being gallantly
waged in four continents. If that defense fails, all the
population and all the resources of Europe and Asia, Africa
and Australia will be dominated by conquerors.

In times like these it is immature-- and, incidentally,
untrue-- for anybody to brag that an unprepared America,
single-handed and with one hand tied behind its back, can
hold off the whole world.
No realistic American can expect from a dictator's peace
international generosity, or return of true independence, or
world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of
religion-- or even good business. Such a peace would bring
no security for us or for our neighbors. Those who would
give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

As a nation we may take pride in the fact that we are
soft-hearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed. We
must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a
tinkling cymbal preach the ism of appeasement. We must
especially beware of that small group of selfish men who
would clip the wings of the American eagle in order to
feather their own nests.
I have recently pointed out how quickly the tempo of modern
warfare could bring into our very midst the physical attack
which we must eventually expect if the dictator nation win
this war.


The first phase of the invasion of this hemisphere would not
be the landing of regular troops. The necessary strategic
points would be occupied by secret agents and by their
dupes-- and great numbers of them are already here and in
Latin America.
As long as the aggressor nations maintain the offensive
they, not we, will choose the time and the place and the
method of their attack.
And that is why the future of all the American Republics is
today in serious danger. That is why this annual message to
the Congress is unique in our history. That is why every
member of the executive branch of the government and every
member of the Congress face great responsibility-- great
accountability.

The need of the moment is that our actions and our policy
should be devoted primarily-- almost exclusively-- to
meeting this foreign peril. For all our domestic problems
are now a part of the great emergency.
Just as our national policy in internal affairs has been
based upon a decent respect for the rights and the dignity
of all of our fellow men within our gates, so our national
policy in foreign affairs has been based on a decent respect
for the rights and the dignity of all nations, large and
small. And the justice of morality must and will win in the
end.

Our national policy is this :
First, by an impressive expression of the public will and
without regard to partisanship, we are committed to
all-inclusive national defense.
Second, by an impressive expression of the public will and
without regard to partisanship, we are committed to full
support of all those resolute people everywhere who are
resisting aggression and are thereby keeping war away from
our hemisphere. By this support we express our
determination that the democratic cause shall prevail, and
we strengthen the defense and the security of our own
nation.
Third, by an impressive expression of the public will and
without regard to partisanship, we are committed to the
proposition that principle of morality and considerations
for our own security will never permit us to acquiesce in a
peace dictated by aggressors and sponsored by appeasers. We
know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of
other people's freedom.

And today it is abundantly evident
that American citizens everywhere are demanding and
supporting speedy and complete action in recognition of
obvious danger.

Let us say to the democracies : "We Americans are vitally
concerned in your defense of freedom. We are putting forth
our energies, our resources and our organizing powers to
give you the strength to regain and maintain a free world.
We shall send you in ever-increasing numbers, ships, planes,
tanks, guns. That is our purpose and our pledge."

In fulfillment of this purpose we will not be intimidated by
the threats of dictators that they will regard as a breach
of international law or as an act of war our aid to the
democracies which dare to resist their aggression. Such aid
is not an act of war, even if a dictator should unilaterally
proclaim it so to be.
And when the dictators --if the dictators-- are ready to
make war upon us, they will not wait for an act of war on
our part.
The happiness of future generations of
Americans may well depend on how effective and how immediate
we can make our aid felt. No one can tell the exact
character of the emergency situations that we may be called
upon to meet. The nation's hands must not be tied when the
nation's life is in danger.


The best way of dealing with the few slackers or
trouble-makers in our midst is, first, to shame them by
patriotic example, and if that fails, to use the sovereignty
of government to save government.
As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by
armaments alone. Those who man our defenses and those
behind them who build our defenses must have the stamina and
the courage which come from unshakeable belief in the
manner of life which they are defending. The mighty action
that we are calling for cannot be based on a disregard of
all the things worth fighting for.

The nation takes great satisfaction and much strength from
the things which have been done to make its people conscious
of their individual stake in the preservation of democratic
life in America. Those things have toughened the fiber of
our people, have renewed their faith and strengthened their
devotion to the institutions we make ready to protect.
Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking
about the social and economic problems which are the root
cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme
factor in the world. For there is nothing mysterious about
the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy.

The basic things expected by our people of their political
and economic systems are simple. They are :
Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a
wider and constantly rising standard of living.
These are the simple, the basic things that must never be
lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of
our modern world. The inner and abiding straight of our
economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree
to which they fulfill these expectations.


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.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite
basis for a kind of world attainable in our own 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.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception --the
moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of
world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.
Since the beginning of our American history we have been
engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a
revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself
to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the
quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is
the cooperation of free countries, working together in a
friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and
hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith
in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the
supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to
those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our
strength is our unity of purpose.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.



THE FOUR FREEDOMS
delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on January 6, 1941