Similarities Between Roosevelt And Jfk

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War and poverty. These two words describe what can result from destructive situations, situations similar to what was happening during the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Roosevelt) and John F. Kennedy (Kennedy) wrote their famous speeches on what it means to be free. Both Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech and Kennedy’s inaugural address were situated in a time when the world was in great danger, causing there to be similarities in the goals being established. However, Roosevelt’s speech used more definitive standards when it came to freedom whereas Kennedy’s speech spoke more generally on how the United States was to achieve peace worldwide. Roosevelt believed that freedom could be boiled down to four basic human rights, rights that not …show more content…
Roosevelt delivered his “Four Freedoms” speech in 1941 as a State of the Union address. During this time the world was in distress due to Nazi Germany being led by Adolph Hitler and World War II becoming a reality. This is because Germany had already invaded Belgium, Norway, and other European countries; as well as having plans to attack France and Great Britain. These matters caused many Americans to want to remain uninvolved in the war because they did not see how it affected the United States, whereas others insisted that the aggression coming from Germany threatened democracy everywhere and that Hitler must be stopped. Throughout the speech Roosevelt used persuasive language to attempt to convince Americans to be active in World War II. He pointed out that America has always been against isolation and proved this by saying that “...the historic truth is that the United States as a nation has at all times maintained clear, definite opposition to any attempt to lock us in…”(5) By using charged language such as “the historic truth,” Roosevelt is able to establish a compelling tone that convinces the American citizens that the United States has an obligation to maintain an active role in the issues