Franklin.D.Roosevelt- Four Freedoms 1941.
Franklin.D.Roosevelt in his four freedom speech in 1941 was about the US national defense and the allies’ support and also focused on a broader outlook on democracy. He fervently believed that military power, dictatorship and social revolution were the main dangers to democracy and individual freedom. He urges the citizens to support the American ideals of democracy and support all the countries that are fighting tyrannical rule. He urged the American citizens that sacrifices were in order to maintain the American way of life and told them to place the cause for democracy before their domestic concerns. In his speech Roosevelt presents four goals that he expected the country to support and spread throughout the world. The four freedoms that he believed people throughout the world were entitled to were the freedom of speech and expression, religious freedom, the freedom to not fear and the freedom from want. He outlined the ways the US government could ensure that all American citizens could enjoy these four freedoms and also provide for them and protect them. His ideas of democracy and freedom did not stop within the national borders as he was also concerned with exporting these ideas out of the country as well.
In his speech, Roosevelt also explains the notion of the duty every American citizen was expected of. He ends his speech by saying that his ideas were not visions for a distant future but that the fights against evils and the coming together of countries to battle the forces of military rule and dictatorship was something that could happen within this lifetime.
Testimony of Edgar.J.Hoover before HUAC
In his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Hoover put out the argument that the communist elements in the country are a dangerous and a destructive force. He says that there is a need for a ‘ vigorous, intelligent and old-fashioned Americanism’ to fight against this threat of communism. He however cautions that there should be no actions that would portray them as martyrs but that there should be relentless persecution wherever it is deemed necessary. He cautions against the threat by saying that the communists have developed one of the most influential propaganda mechanisms and have infiltrated many of the established and respected institutions of the country. He explains the communist threat in the movie industry and how the communists use the medium to slowly tell people that nothing is wrong with communism. He also says that the committee is the best that is there to fight against the insidious nature of communism and also offers 14 questions to determine the real nature of these communist organizations.
He says that the real aim of the communist parties in the country was to demolish the cherished democratic values of the country. He said that he feared the ignorance of the people against the communist propaganda, the fear that labor unions would be infiltrated y them, the fear that parents would not take seriously the dispensing of communist ideology in the schools and that he feared the communist ideals would destroy the basic American belief in the sanctity of home and religion.
The Great depression of the 1920’s and 30’s
The great depression or the economic recession in the beginning of the last century was not as long or severe as the depression of the previous century. But the people looked towards the government to change things as the situation had changed tremendously in the ensuing years. A major blame on the unemployment problem was put on the immigration issue, especially the cheap labor from Mexico and the citizens wanted to federal government to deal with it. Also federal government under Hoover dictated that the government would not interfere in private businesses and that it would not tell people what to do. With no money to buy essential goods and no source of employment either in the public or private sector the people were increasingly helpless and looked towards the federal government to solve the problems of depression.The growth in the industries due to the previous war efforts also came to a standstill, resulting in job losses and making the people desperate for jobs and money.
America’s enormous productivity in WWII America followed a policy of isolationism and did not interfere in the affairs of the European powers during WWI. It also has its internal problems like depression to deal with. But all this changed when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in an unprovoked incident. This brought America into the war scene and thus started the enormous productivity. With America entering the war, more people joined the Army and peace time production were speeded up to meet the wartime demands. Over 15 million American citizens were part of the armed forces and a separate industry flourished to just meet the demands of the war. America was manufacturing arms now to not only arm itself but also to sell arms to the different actors in the world war. This increased the production of the manufacturing industry and created many new jobs.
There were also new inventions and technological innovations that changed the manufacturing industry. And unlike before there were also a large number of women in the workforce which further increased productivity. The pumping of money by the federal government into the economy also served to increase the productivity in America during WWII. The war efforts and the increased pumping of money into the economy thus served to increase the productivity of the country during WWII.
