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The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to those men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to 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, New York, by the Roosevelt Institute and in Middelburg, Netherlands, by the Roosevelt Stichting.
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History
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:
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom of worship
- Freedom from want
- 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 honours non-Americans. The choice of Middelburg was motivated by the suspected descendance of the family Roosevelt from Oud-Vossemeer in the municipality Tholen.
Freedom of Speech
The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
Freedom of Worship
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
Freedom from Want
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
Freedom from Fear
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