WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 19 “Franklin’s Second War Trip and My Third: Teheran and the Caribbean”

Dave — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:16:12 +0000

Many of the other boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. The gallantry of youth, bearing handicaps which will be a cross all their lives, seems to me a theme for some great poet. Though the war had to be fought to preserve our freedom, their full reward for their suffering is not yet in sight. To see that it is paid in full measure is an obligation which all of us who lived through the war owe to the thousands who fought it. If we do not achieve the real ends for which they sacrificed — a peaceful world in which there exists freedom from fear both of aggression and want — we have failed. This is the challenge presented to the citizens of our democracy by the last war and we shall not have paid our debt until these ends are achieved.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 19 “Franklin’s Second War Trip and My Third: Teheran and the Caribbean”

In her compiled 1961 Autobiography, Part 2, ch. 26 "Teheran and the Caribbean," this is rendered:

Many of the boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. If we do not achieve the ends for which they sacrificed — a peaceful world in which there exists freedom from fear of both aggression and want — we have failed. We shall not have paid our debt until these ends are achieved.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1941-01-06) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union), “Four Freedoms,” Washington, D. C.

Dave — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 23:19:42 +0000

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
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.
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.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman; US President (1933–45)
Speech (1941-01-06) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union), “Four Freedoms,” Washington, D. C.

FDR's first presentation of his "Four Freedoms" framework.

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Column (1943-04-15), “My Day”

Dave — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:27:34 +0000

It is not only in war, however, that we fight for freedom. One fights for freedom in personal contacts and in many phases of civilian life. When the war is over, the four freedoms will not have been won, we shall simply have dominated their more aggressive enemies. At all times, day by day, we have to continue fighting for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from fear, and freedom from want — for these are things that must be gained in peace as well as in war. At all times, day by day, we have to continue fighting for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from want — for these are things that must be gained in peace as well as in war.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Column (1943-04-15), “My Day”