Thoughtful Read by FDR

Written by: Karen Kostoff on Apr 6, 2008 2:36 PM EDT

Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the
Congress of the United States on the State of the Union

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the
strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of
an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We
cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living
may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or
one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and
insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength,
under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among
them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by
jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial
economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual
freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
"Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for
all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

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Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops
or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return
which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an
atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by
monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and
enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age,
sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must
be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to
new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon
how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for
our citizens.

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