W. H. Auden’s 1 September 1939. was written to memorialize the date of Germany’s invasion of Poland, the event that precipitated World War II. The invasion took place in the context of increasing tensions in Europe in the 1930s as Germany sought to undo the settlements reached at the end of World War I and increase the territory it controlled. In September 1938, the British at the Munich Conference sought to appease Hitler, recognizing the dangers he posed but hoping to prevent war. The agreement essentially "gave" a third of Czechoslovakia to Germany in return for a promise not to take the rest. While this averted war for the moment, Germany in fact took the rest of that country in March 1939.

         Next, Germany turned its attention to Poland and the "Free City of Danzig". In August, the world was stunned to learn that Russia and Germany had signed the Nazi-Soviet pact promising nonaggression between the two countries; given the complications of European alliances, many consider this the moment that war became inevitable. Two days later the British signed an alliance of mutual defense with Poland and on the first of September Germany invaded Poland; two days after that the British and the French declared war on Germany. The German blitzkrieg against Poland was brutally effective; the country was crushed within six weeks and the Germans launched a campaign of terror against the country’s Jews, communists, socialists, and government officials. The eastern part of the country was occupied by the Soviet Union under the Nazi-Soviet pact; the Russians then turned their attention to Finland. Although the British and the French had declared war, throughout the fall and winter they did not send troops against Germany, which took Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and then France in short order, leaving the British vulnerable and the only nation in a position to mount an effective defense.

         Throughout the 1930s, as the world struggled to recover from economic depression, U.S. observers gradually became convinced that war in Europe was increasingly likely. By the time it actually began, it was certainly not unexpected, yet to people at the time it came as something of a shock. Although Hitler had repeatedly proclaimed his goals, few political leaders or ordinary citizens truly understood their implications or what his efforts to attain them might mean for the continent. As a result, when the war began, political leaders, media observers, and the general public used language suggesting that the first of September 1939 marked the end of life as they had known it, implying that even at the time, people were aware of the event as a turning point in the history of the world as well as marking a transformation in the everyday experiences of ordinary citizens. With experiences of the Great Depression fresh in their minds -- and indeed, many continued to live with its consequences -- and World War I only beginning to fade from memory, people all over the globe shuddered to think of the consequences yet another war would bring to their lives.

         In the United States, many Americans watched these events with horror, yet the dominant mood in the country was one of neutrality. Political leaders throughout the 1930s sought to insure that United States avoid becoming embroiled in European conflicts. In 1935, 1936, and 1939, Congress passed Neutrality Acts. Intended to assert congressional control over foreign policy and prevent the president from leading the United States into the growing conflict in Europe, the acts created an arms embargo and restricted trade with other nations to a cash and carry basis, in an effort to protect U.S. shipping. Gradually, however, after full scale war erupted in Europe, some American leaders began to nudge public opinion in the direction of intervention.

         Franklin Roosevelt is generally credited with the dominant role in leading the nation to participate in the war. He was well aware of the strength of popular isolationism across the political spectrum. His own inclinations were to support the British and French, yet he knew that he could not outrun public opinion. The evolution of his commitment to war and his efforts to move the nation in that direction have fascinated biographers and historians.

         The "Four Freedoms" speech, delivered in January 1941 as a State of the Union address, is part of that evolution. Roosevelt knew that his American audience was more concerned with continuing the recovery from economic depression than with events in far-off Europe. Sensitive to those concerns, Roosevelt designed the speech to move public opinion away from domestic issues and garner support for guaranteeing the freedoms enjoyed by Americans to the British people threatened by German military forces. The speech was linked to FDR’s request for a Lend-Lease bill, which would make arms and supplies easily available to the British and other nations whose defense was considered vital to the U.S. Over the objections of the non-interventionists, the bill was passed in March.

         While remaining officially neutral, the United States was increasingly drawn into undeclared war against Germany that summer and fall. In August, Roosevelt and Churchill met off the coast of Newfoundland to discuss the progress of the war, the possibility of American participation, and the characteristics of the world once it was over; the outcome of their discussions was a joint communique known as the Atlantic Charter. FDR’s vision of the four freedoms was echoed in that charter, which specified the right of all peoples to live in freedom from fear, want, and tyranny; called for free trade, an end to seizures of territory, and disarmament; and urged the self-determination of nations. These ideas would later influence the formation of the United Nations, which would replace the largely ineffective League of Nations formed after World War I. The Atlantic Charter was eventually endorsed by the Soviet Union and 14 other nations.

         The "Four Freedoms" speech marked one of the most significant occasions on which Roosevelt articulated his political vision and the reasons he thought the United States should mount a defense against Nazism, although political circumstances made it impossible to define his goals so explicitly. He clearly had the beleaguered and threatened nations of Europe in mind as he spoke. However, Roosevelt would be less obviously concerned about the Japanese and their freedoms, even in this country. In spite of the ringing rhetoric of the speech, Roosevelt oversaw the internment of Japanese immigrants and their children living on the west coast of the United States once this country was officially at war in the Pacific. The contradiction between the power and influence of his words in January 1941 and the realities of the infringement of the freedoms of Japanese Americans only a short time later reminds us of the importance of attending to both words and actions when assessing political leaders.

Marli F. Weiner
Department of History, University of Maine

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