ABSTRACT
In an effort to move Congress from an isolationist to internationalist outlook in matters of government policy, Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous "four freedoms" speech and in the process stated a philosophy that precipitated a watershed shift in citizens' perception of proper role of federal government in a democratic society. As early as his first presidential inaugural address on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt broached the concept of freedom from fear as he assured an apprehensive nation that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The "four freedoms" became popular shorthand to express US war aims during World War II and to serve as a charter for the New Deal itself. Its immediate effect was to help secure passage of the Lend-Lease Act, legislation designed to get military supplies to European allies during the war before the United States entered the war officially.
