    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [January 30, 1991]
    [Pages 80-82]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the 50th Anniversary Observance of Franklin D. Roosevelt's
    Four Freedoms Speech
    January 30, 1991

        Thank you very much, Speaker Foley. And may I salute the leaders of
    both Houses of Congress; pay my respects to Anne Roosevelt and to Arthur
    Schlesinger, Bill vanden Heuvel; and distinguished representatives of
    the Congress here; distinguished representatives of our World War II
    allies who are with us; certain ambassadors; and to the many friends.
        It is an honor to be with you on this

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    extraordinary day of reflection, rededication, and renewal, inspired by
    the stirring words of this great President.
        You know, a day when we think of the Declaration of Independence,
    the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation--Franklin Roosevelt
    called these documents ``milestones of human progress.'' And he added
    one more to the list that we've heard about--the charge he named his
    Four Freedoms of Common Humanity. All of these landmark charters are
    optimistic. After all, that's what inspiration is about. But President
    Roosevelt knew that they are more than just idealistic goals. Together
    they are the moral North Star that guides us.
        Two hundred years ago, perhaps our greatest political philosopher,
    Thomas Jefferson, defined our nation's identity when he wrote: All men
    are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
    rights. Among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
        Fifty years ago, our greatest American political pragmatist,
    Roosevelt, refined that thought in his four freedoms, when he
    brilliantly enunciated the 20th-century vision of our Founding Fathers'
    commitment to individual liberty. And he saw that liberty was made up as
    we've heard: freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom from
    want, and freedom from fear. And for these 200 years this concept of
    human dignity has been a beacon drawing to these shores people from
    across the globe--people like a boy named Quang Trinh, a Vietnamese
    teenager who almost died escaping from the country where he'd seen his
    mother killed, his father jailed, his brother's spirit broken. Quang
    fled the only life he'd known for freedom. He jumped into shark-infested
    waters for freedom, starved in delirium for freedom. And when he was
    rescued and told that he could enter the United States, he wept for joy.
        Quang calls America freedom country. Imagine if every person across
    this world could call their homeland freedom country. We do--and we do
    because the four freedoms have shaped the American character. They've
    molded who we are as individuals and as a nation. And they've made us
    realize that along with the freedoms that are our birthright come solemn
    responsibilities.
        As we look around the world at the events of the past year, we see
    how these very same beliefs are bringing about the emergence of a new
    world order, one based on respect for the individual and for the rule of
    law--a new world order that can lead to the lasting peace we all seek,
    where children will never have to repeat Quang's ordeal. And that's
    what's at stake--a new chapter of human history.
        And that's why an international coalition of 28 nations backed by
    the United Nations is standing up to the evil that challenges this ideal
    halfway around the world in the Middle East. We cannot, we must not, and
    we will not let that hope for a better world be threatened.
        It is our commitment to the new world order that takes us to the
    sands and the seas of the Gulf. And we're there because we realize that
    each of Roosevelt's four freedoms leads us to the greatest of all human
    aspirations--the freedom to live in peace.
        We stand now, I really believe, at a defining moment in history,
    much as the man we honor today did a half a century ago. No one knew
    better than President Roosevelt what hard work freedom really is. And
    when he introduced first the four freedoms, Roosevelt's America was
    entering a war against the oldest enemy of the human spirit--evil that
    threatened world peace.
        But listen to the confidence of purpose that he expressed in that
    same speech: ``Our national policy in foreign affairs has been based on
    a decent respect for the rights and dignity of all nations, large and
    small, and the justice of morality must and will win in the end.'' That
    charge is as true today in the Gulf as it was 50 years ago in Europe.
    And the triumph of the moral order must still be the vision that compels
    us.
        So, we ask God to bless us, to guide us, and to help us through
    whatever dark nights we still may face. We hope that, in the sublime
    resolve of those who strive so that all may live in peace and freedom,
    we will show how this nation has forged its very soul; and that the
    liberty bell of the four freedoms will ring for all people in every
    nation of this world.
        Thank you very much.

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                        Note: The President spoke at 11:33 a.m. in Statuary
                            Hall at the U.S. Capitol. In his opening
                            remarks, he referred to Thomas S. Foley, Speaker
                            of the House of Representatives; Anne Roosevelt,
                            granddaughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt; and
                            historians Arthur Schlesinger and William vanden
                            Heuvel, cochairmen of the Franklin and Eleanor
                            Roosevelt Institute.