Four Freedoms Award

Reinforces FDR State of the Union Principles (1941) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Four Freedoms Award

The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to "those men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed in his Four Freedoms speech to the United States Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: "freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear". The annual award is handed out in alternate years in New York City by the Roosevelt Institute to Americans and in Middelburg, Netherlands, by the Roosevelt Stichting to non-Americans.

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Four Freedoms Award
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CountryUnited States
Established1982
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Ribbon of the award
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History

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The awards were first presented in 1982 on the centennial of President Roosevelt's birth as well as the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands. The awards were founded to celebrate the Four Freedoms espoused by President Roosevelt in his speech:

  1. Freedom of speech
  2. Freedom of worship
  3. Freedom from want
  4. Freedom from fear

For each of the four freedoms an award was instituted, as well as a special Freedom medal. In 1990, 1995, 2003 and 2004 there were also special awards.

In odd years the awards are presented to American citizens or institutions by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York City, though in the past the American awards were given in Hyde Park, New York. In even years the award ceremony is held in Middelburg and honors non-Americans. The choice of Middelburg was motivated by the suspected descendance of the family Roosevelt from Oud-Vossemeer in the municipality Tholen.

Laureates

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Freedom Medal

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One of the medals

Freedom of Speech

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Dutch politician Max van der Stoel receives the Freedom of Speech award, 16 October 1982

The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.

Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
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M. vd Stoel
1982
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J. Lewis
1999
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Dmitry Muratov on behalf of Novaya Gazeta
2010

Freedom of Worship

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Freedom of Worship, a painting of Norman Rockwell of 1943

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.

Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
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C. King
1983
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E. Wiesel
1985
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B. Alfrink
1986
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Bartholomew I
2012

Freedom from Want

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Freedom from Want of painter Norman Rockwell of 1943

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.

Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
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R. McNamara
1983
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M. Lasker
1987
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M. Yunus
2006
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E. Bhatt
2012

Freedom from Fear

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Freedom from Fear of Norman Rockwell of 1943

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.

Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
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W. Fulbright
1989
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B. Muller
1999
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L. Arbour
2000
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Aung San S.
2006

Special presentations

1984Simone Veil (Centennial Award) 2002William vanden Heuvel 2005BBC World Service
1990Mikhail Gorbachev 2003Arthur Schlesinger Jr. 2005Mary Soames
1995Jonas Salk 2004Anton Rupert 2006Mike Wallace
1995Ruud Lubbers 2004Bob Dole 2008Forrest Church
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Simone Veil
1984
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M. Gorbachev
1990
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R. Lubbers
1995
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M. Soames
2005
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F. Church
2008

See also

References

  • Roosevelt Institute, List of laureates
  • NOS (2008) TV documentary on the Four Freedoms Award
  • Oosthoek, A.L. (2010) Roosevelt in Middelburg: the four freedoms awards 1982-2008, ISBN 978-9079875214
  • American Rhetoric, Four Freedoms Speech of Roosevelt
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