In the 1930s many Americans felt that the involvement in World War I had been a mistake, and were adamantly against continued intervention in European affairs. As a result, the U.S. established Neutrality Acts, which banned the sale of armaments to countries that were at war and placed restrictions on travel with belligerent vessels, and it remained in effect when World War II began in September 1939.
But FDR had watched with increasing anxiety as European nations fell to Hitler’s fascist regime one by one. Therefore, in his speech to the Congress, he made a break with the tradition of non-interventionism. He proposed to the Congress four fundamental freedoms that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy, which include:
Freedom of speech
Freedom of worship
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear
The declaration of the Four Freedoms as a justification for war would resonate through the remainder of the war, and for decades longer as a frame of remembrance.The Freedoms became the staple of America's war aims, and the center of all attempts to rally public support for the war. They became values central to American life and examples of American exceptionalism.
