The ''Four Freedoms Monument'' was commissioned by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

following his articulation of the " Four Freedoms" in his 1941 State of the Union Address. This was yet before the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

and the participation of the United States in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Roosevelt felt that, through the medium of the arts, a far greater number of people could be inspired to appreciate the concept of the Four Freedoms. According to Roosevelt, the four fundamental freedoms are: * Freedom of speech and expression *

Freedom of worship Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

Freedom from want The right to an adequate standard of living is listed as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was accepted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948.United Nations''Universal Declaration of Human Right ...

Freedom from fear Freedom from fear is listed as a fundamental human right according to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948. On January 6, 1941, United States President of the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it one of t ...

The statue was created by

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Walter Russell later that year, and was funded by the Women's National Institute. In 1943 it was dedicated to Colin P. Kelly, one of the first recognized American heroes of

, before a crowd of 60,000 people at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in New York City. On June 14, 1944, the monument was re-dedicated in Kelly's hometown of Madison, Florida, with a speech by Governor

Spessard Holland Spessard Lindsey Holland (July 10, 1892 – November 6, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician. A Southern Democrat, he served as the 28th List of Governors of Florida, governor of Florida from 1941 to 1945, and as a US senator, U.S. senato ...

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The Four Freedoms monument in

Evansville Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in S ...

, Indiana, was designed by Evansville architect Rupert Condict. It consists of four 24-foot tall, ionic Indiana limestone columns, each with the inscription on it of one of the four freedoms. Surrounding these central columns are 50 uniformly shaped blocks representing the 50 states of the United States. Each block represents a state and shows its state seal and its date of becoming a state. The monument was dedicated in 1976 in commemoration of the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memo ...

. The Four Freedoms Monument of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio, is located in the Tremont neighborhood. It consists of a single column, with one of the four freedoms printed on each side. On top of the column is a sculpture of two hands holding a globe of the Earth.

References

{{Coord, 30, 28, 10.5, N, 83, 24, 46.0, W, display=title Cultural history of World War II Monuments and memorials to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States Buildings and structures in Madison County, Florida Monuments and memorials in Florida History of human rights Monuments and memorials in Indiana Four Freedoms Outdoor sculptures in Indiana 1943 sculptures

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See also

References