The Fight for the Four Freedoms

January 27, 2014
In his latest history of American democracy, Kaye (Thomas Paine and the Promise of America) traces the repercussions that followed in the wake of one of our country’s most influential presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He effectively details how F.D.R. and his Four Freedoms rhetoric—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—fostered a more open and equal American populace. These freedoms, explicitly or not, shaped the 12 years in which F.D.R. and his generation combated an economic depression, a world war, and a plethora of civil injustices. Kaye is attuned to the power of F.D.R.’s speeches, using powerful and eloquent quotes to further his stance that F.D.R. and the generation of Americans who fought in WWII mobilized to spread these ideals worldwide. Kaye’s story goes further, illustrating how subsequent presidencies misunderstood, manipulated, or failed to uphold F.D.R.’s four freedoms. Though Kaye hopes to inspire readers to again believe in the American democratic system, the implication that this greatest generation failed in their attempts to achieve a fully democratic way of life leaves one pessimistic about such possibilities. Regardless, the book offers insight into the path that led to the politics and democracy of modern-day America.