The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to "those men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed in his Four Freedoms speech to the United States Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: "freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear". The annual award is handed out in alternate years in New York City by the Roosevelt Institute to Americans and in Middelburg, Netherlands, by the Roosevelt Stichting to non-Americans.
| Four Freedoms Award | |
|---|---|
 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, painted by Francis Owen Salisbury, 1947 | |
| Country | United States |
| Established | 1982 |
 Ribbon of the award | |
History
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The awards were first presented in 1982 on the centennial of President Roosevelt's birth as well as the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands. The awards were founded to celebrate the Four Freedoms espoused by President Roosevelt in his speech:
For each of the four freedoms an award was instituted, as well as a special Freedom medal. In 1990, 1995, 2003 and 2004 there were also special awards.
In odd years the awards are presented to American citizens or institutions by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York City, though in the past the American awards were given in Hyde Park, New York. In even years the award ceremony is held in Middelburg and honors non-Americans. The choice of Middelburg was motivated by the suspected descendance of the family Roosevelt from Oud-Vossemeer in the municipality Tholen.
Laureates
editFreedom Medal
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Freedom of Speech
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The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
| Year | Middelburg | Year | Hyde Park |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Max van der Stoel | 1983 | Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. |
| 1984 | Amnesty International | 1985 | Kenneth B. Clark |
| 1986 | El País | 1987 | Herbert Block |
| 1988 | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | 1989 | Walter Cronkite |
| 1990 | No Award | 1991 | James Reston |
| 1992 | Mstislav Rostropovich | 1993 | Arthur Miller |
| 1994 | Marion Dönhoff | 1995 | Mary McGrory |
| 1996 | John Hume | 1997 | Sidney R. Yates |
| 1998 | CNN | 1999 | John Lewis |
| 2000 | Bronisław Geremek | 2001 | The New York Times and the Ochs/Sulzberger Family |
| 2002 | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | 2003 | Studs Terkel |
| 2004 | Lennart Meri | 2005 | Tom Brokaw |
| 2006 | Carlos Fuentes | 2007 | Bill Moyers |
| 2008 | Lakhdar Brahimi | 2009 | Anthony Romero |
| 2010 | Novaya Gazeta | 2011 | Michael J. Copps |
| 2012 | Al Jazeera | 2013 | Paul Krugman |
| 2014 | Maryam Durani | 2015 | Arthur Mitchell |
| 2016 | Mazen Darwish | 2017 | Dan Rather |
| 2018 | Erol Önderoğlu | 2019 | The Boston Globe |
| 2020 | Maria Ressa | 2021 | Nikole Hannah-Jones |
| 2022 | Đỗ Nguyễn Mai Khôi | 2023 | Tracie Hall |
| 2024 | Bellingcat | 2025 |
 1982 |
 1999 |
 2010 |
Freedom of Worship
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The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
 1983 |
 1985 |
 1986 |
 2012 |
Freedom from Want
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The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
 1983 |
 1987 |
 2006 |
 2012 |
Freedom from Fear
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The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
 1989 |
 1999 |
 2000 |
 2006 |
Special presentations
edit| 1984 | Simone Veil (Centennial Award) | 2002 | William vanden Heuvel | 2005 | BBC World Service |
| 1990 | Mikhail Gorbachev | 2003 | Arthur Schlesinger Jr. | 2005 | Mary Soames |
| 1995 | Jonas Salk | 2004 | Anton Rupert | 2006 | Mike Wallace |
| 1995 | Ruud Lubbers | 2004 | Bob Dole | 2008 | Forrest Church |
 1984 |
 1990 |
 1995 |
 2005 |
 2008 |
See also
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References
edit- Roosevelt Institute, List of laureates
- NOS (2008) TV documentary on the Four Freedoms Award
- Oosthoek, A.L. (2010) Roosevelt in Middelburg: the four freedoms awards 1982-2008, ISBN 978-9079875214
- American Rhetoric, Four Freedoms Speech of Roosevelt
External links
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