Four Freedoms Vs. Kennedy's Speech

In a time of darkness and fighting in the world, it is hard to remain peaceful. Being the leader of your country, it is hard to say the right thing. Both presidents, Roosevelt and Kennedy, experienced this in their time. Even though their speeches were relevant to the topic of freedom, the meanings came about differently. Both Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech and Kennedy’s inaugural address both talk about freedom. However, Roosevelt’s speech uses military power to get freedom, whereas Kennedy’s speech wants peace and negotiation to get freedom. During the time of Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech, Europe was just beginning World War 2. Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party already had taken over Norway, Belgium, and other European countries. Many Americans did not want to get involved within the war.

Delivering the speech, Kennedy expressed compassionate and hopeful words to his audience. His view of freedom is something that makes its way through peace and negotiation. Kennedy states, “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us” (16). This is a perfect example of Kennedy’s meaning towards freedom. He wants all nations to look at the things that join them together and can relate to rather than the things that guide them away from each other. He also says, “…United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder” (Kennedy 7). Similar to the last quote, Kennedy implies that all nations need to work together and not apart. Kennedy has another line in the speech where he make a reference from Isaiah 58:6 from the Bible, he again, talks about uniting on earth (Kennedy 19). It is clear what Kennedy’s intention and meaning in his speech. He wants the world to unite together as one and bring peace, not apart from one another and