On January 6, 1941, President Roosevelt gave an important State of the Union address that would change the perspective of many Americans forever. This speech that went down in history as the "Four Freedoms Speech" spoke of a dream for America as well as the rest of the world and encouraged the nation and congress to join the war efforts. Along side this speech was the famous paintings done by Norman Rockwell. Although these paintings presented the same ideas and beliefs, Rockwell went about presenting the ideas in a very different way. While Roosevelt used a speech to appeal to the nation, especially the minorities and congress to convince them of the need to enter war, Rockwell used paintings and mass media, to appeal to the typical American family and show them how they could contribute to the war efforts. .
When President Roosevelt delivered this Four Freedoms Speech his motivations for listing these freedoms was to provide a rationale as to why the US should enter WWII. At the time that Roosevelt gave his speech, the world faced unprecedented instability, danger, and uncertainty. Most of Europe had been conquered by the German Army but many Americans stayed committed to the policy of isolationism. Many Americans believed that the United States should stay out of war. Roosevelt recognized the need for American support and attempted to persuade the Americans and congress through his speech that entering the war was necessary. He wanted to awaken the nation of the situation. Not only did he try to convince the nation, he also revealed his hopefully view for this world, post-war. He believed in four freedoms that everyone across the world should have the right to. He had hopes that in the postwar world, all men of every race and every skin color world wide will have these four basic rights of men. In his speech he stated, ""In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms,".
