bright amina

Student name

History American Nation II 2302

Professor

28 October, 2015

Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms

The four freedoms formed the basis for the ambitions of the United States of America president, as Franklin D Roosevelt delivered them in December 1941. In this speech he put forth four basic or essential freedoms that people all over the world were supposed to abide to and enjoy. These freedoms were as follows; freedom of speech, freedom of want, freedom from fear and freedom of worship. After the end of the First World War, the United States refused to endorse the Versailles treaty and declined to enter the League of Nations, and this was due to the apparent fear of most Americans that meddling into European affairs would bring national unrest and insecurity. Therefore, the United States adopted a policy of non-interventionism and isolation .To bring this into effect, several acts to maintain neutrality were signed .This led to the of selling of armaments or military assistance to countries participating in war, whereby several vessels were discontinued from service so as to maintain peace. Soon after the onset of the Second World War, Franklin Roosevelt saw it fit to do away with the isolation polices that had been put into place after World War I. The immediate result saw Britain gain immense help from the United States during the World War II as supplies grew exponentially and more troops were committed to helping the Britons advance their military ambitions.

According to documents 3 and 4, the events that occurred in 1941 do not essentially fulfill or follow consistently with the policies Roosevelt had championed. For instance, the discriminatory curfew set up to curtail espionage and boost the war fought between the Japanese. According to documents 5 and 6, the events of the Pearl Harbor clearly show no progress whatsoever was made by the federal government through the president to protect one of the four pillars of freedom which is freedom from fear. Many Americans of Japanese origin were constitutionally mistreated through the authorization of the executive order 9066 that allowed creation of exclusion zones, and this led to hundreds of thousands of Americans of Japanese origin being excluded from the entire Pacific coast .

Furthermore, According to documents 3, many African Americans who had been drafted in the military were given torrid times. They were not afforded better treatment as compared to their white counterparts. For example, they were not given promotions promptly. None of them were allowed to serve in the high and intellectually sophisticated positions like aviation in the military, and some were falsely accused of crimes and as a consequence were beaten and tortured.

Also, according to document 7, the Hispanic community was not left out in the injustice as sailors and marines indiscriminately attacked Mexican Americans in the Zoot Suit riots.

Freedom of speech and expression was highly compromised and this is evident from the point where a consolidated aircraft company official was attacked by marine such that the injuries that he suffered prevented him from resuming work for some time.

Racial prejudice that ensued during World War II and the zoot suit riots clearly indicate Roosevelt’s freedoms had been abused by the same people who had the power vested in them to protect and uphold the freedoms. In my opinion, the minority group could not expect equal access to the freedom. The American society did not buy into the idea either .This is evident when white majority blatantly discriminated against the Blacks, the Hispanic and the Japanese minorities.

Let us explore the level of freedom accessible to the minority. The minority during the World War II majorly comprised of the Japanese born in America, the African Americans and the Hispanics. Racially motivated actions like the stereotype image pasted on Mexicans (donning sporting long hair, a zoot suit and a blade in the pocket) engulfed the media it hard for the Mexicans to enjoy the provisions of the freedom. African Americans and the Japanese were extensively segregated by the civilians and government agencies especially the military as their access to freedom of speech and freedom from fear were weaned from them as World War II escalated to more violence.

The declaration by Edward Duran Ayers of the LA county sheriff’s office said that Mexicans were descendants of blood thirsty Aztecs and that the tendency of violence was a biological behavior of Mexicans, blacks and Native Americans also falls among some of the few events that showed the United States and the world at large, needed a robust introduction and

implementation of the four freedom policy to enable peaceful, respectful and tolerant coexistence in the world as Roosevelt had intended .

Bibliography

Gorn, Elliott J., Randy Roberts, and Terry Bilhartz. Constructing the American Past: A Source Book of a People's History, Volume II. 7th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2011.

� Elliott, Gorn; Randy Roberts & Terry Bilhartz. Constructing the American Past: A Source Book of a People's History. Volume II. 7th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2011. P. 191

� Ibid.

� Ibid. P. 190

� Ibid. P. 194

� Ibid. P.199

� Ibid.P.202

� Ibid. P.199

�Ibid.P.208

� Ibid. P. 210

� Ibid. P. 211

� Ibid. P. 194

� Ibid. P. 207